{"id":24773,"date":"2019-04-29T15:01:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/?p=24773"},"modified":"2019-04-29T15:01:49","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:01:49","slug":"chinese-mobile-poker-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/chinese-mobile-poker-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"China Bans Mobile Poker, But The Chinese Poker Scene Will Go On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Playing poker in China<\/strong> became much tougher this month. The country\u2019s video game licensing bureau, the State Administration of Press and Publications<\/strong>, effectively banned mobile poker, leaving millions of players out of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

How the Chinese mobile poker ban happened<\/span><\/h2>\n

Last year, the government agency suspended the licensing of games for nine months. Officially, the suspension came as part of a government initiative to combat youth video game addiction.<\/span><\/p>\n

The State Administration of Press and Publications, which is overseen by the Communist Party<\/strong>‘s propaganda department, has approved 795 new video games in the first quarter of 2019.\u00a0<\/span>However, none of those approved games include poker.<\/span><\/p>\n

The effect of the hiatus on approvals has already shown. As the <\/span>South China Morning Post<\/i><\/a><\/strong> noted, <\/span><\/p>\n

“China\u2019s gaming market, the world\u2019s largest, recorded its slowest revenue growth in 2018 in at least a decade.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Any company hoping to market a game in China must be licensed by the government. So, unfortunately, those titles featuring poker or card games are out of luck.<\/span><\/p>\n

At a time when the game is an upswing, the ban certainly disappoints players and those in the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Poker in China WAS a growing market<\/span><\/h2>\n

With 1.3 billion people, China represents a huge opportunity to grow the poker industry.\u00a0Poker\u2019s popularity in China had been growing in recent years, mostly online as a social game. <\/span><\/p>\n

Gambling is illegal in the country, but social poker offered an alternative to heading to Macau<\/strong> or Hong Kong<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0In a 2016 Business Insider<\/i><\/a><\/strong> article, Global Poker League<\/strong> founder Alex Dreyfus<\/strong> said:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTexas Hold’em<\/strong> is not part of the cultural roots of China, but this has changed in the last few years thanks to the introduction of free poker applications on mobile phones. Therefore, you have new generations of white-collar, educated and influential individuals that love the game and play regularly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time, he estimated 100 million Chinese citizens had downloaded poker games onto their devices. However, t<\/span>he Chinese government is now looking to stop that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to <\/span>Niko Reports<\/strong><\/span><\/i><\/a>, regulators launched a \u201ccrackdown on titles in the poker and mah-jong genre after China\u2019s government became concerned about real world money being used in these games.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the ban, as of June 1, even discussing or promoting the game on social media will be outlawed. Some in the industry expect the moves to have a major negative impact on the Asian poker market. As\u00a0Hong Kong Poker Players Association<\/strong> managing director Stephen Lai<\/strong> told the Morning Post<\/i><\/a><\/strong>,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c(The Asian market) was growing very fast, (but) now it is going to be more difficult for operators in Asia to organise poker events. Chinese players make up over half of the field.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An inside perspective about the Chinese poker scene<\/span><\/h2>\n

Professional poker player Xuan Liu<\/strong> and her family immigrated to Toronto<\/strong> when she was 5.\u00a0<\/span>Born in Tianjin<\/strong>, China,\u00a0 Liu has almost $2 million in live tournament winnings and has played regularly in Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n

On mainland China, poker has flourished even in a live atmosphere. Gambling is illegal on the mainland, but\u00a0underground card rooms and even casinos do exist. <\/span><\/p>\n

Liu believes those operations will continue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been significant interest in poker in China for awhile, but it’s always operated in the mainland in various shades of gray,\u201d she said. \u201cThose who really want to play will always find places to do so, whether it’s through the various local clubs that hold games, or online through VPNs and cashless play money sites.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Liu also emphasized the importance of Chinese nationals playing in high profile events. A Chinese face at the EPT<\/strong> or the WSOP<\/strong> is critical to the growth of the game’s popularity on the mainland.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Playing poker in China became much tougher this month. The country\u2019s video game licensing bureau, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","vebbtech_seo_disable_yoast":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_author":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_date":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_factchecker":false,"vebbtech_seo_fact_check_enabled":false,"vebbtech_seo_post_reviewer":0,"vebbtech_seo_post_review_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[374,6],"tags":[20,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-24773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-industry","8":"category-news-category","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-online-poker"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy The Chinese Mobile Poker Ban Is Not The End Of Chinese Poker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Playing poker in China became much tougher. 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