{"id":6266,"date":"2018-05-14T14:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T14:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/?p=6266"},"modified":"2022-09-20T15:48:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T15:48:48","slug":"chinese-online-poker-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/chinese-online-poker-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"China’s Online Poker Black Friday Having Live Casino Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"

China will ban all forms of online social media poker games<\/strong> as of June 1 according to numerous reports.<\/p>\n

The ban could have a catastrophic effect<\/strong> on the burgeoning poker industry in the region, which relies on social media poker to build awareness<\/strong> for the game.<\/p>\n

At this point in time, there are no real-money poker sites<\/a><\/strong> allowed in China so play money poker is essentially the only game in town.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse the government is also cracking down on any mention of poker on social media<\/strong>. IAdditionally, the game will no longer be recognized as a competitive sport.<\/p>\n

The ban could stifle Chinese poker in its infancy and pundits are already likening it to a Chinese Black Friday<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Huge hit for all of Asia<\/h1>\n

The potentially devastating effects of a play money ban in China could have ramifications for numerous neighboring Asian countries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Local tournaments in nearby countries regularly receive a sizable influx of players who qualified for events through play money promotions in China<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a good chance the special administrative region of Macau will take a significant hit from the ban.<\/p>\n

First off, it appears the special PokerStars-branded<\/a> <\/strong>poker room at the City of Dreams in Cotai <\/strong>will be closing.<\/p>\n

According to reports, it was the City of Dreams parent company Melco Resorts & Entertainment<\/strong> that terminated the deal. The City of Dreams PokerStars LIVE poker room operated for five years.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the big online players in China, including the massive Tencent Gaming, have already started to remove some of their poker apps <\/strong>from the Android, Apple App store,\u00a0<\/strong>and WeChat store<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong-based Boyaa Interactive<\/strong>, which runs the Boyaa Poker Tour, has already seen its share price drop 12 percent, according to a report from Inside Asia Gaming<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

More than virtual currency at stake<\/h1>\n

The ban on free-to-play poker may seem unnecessarily harsh but there are a few factors that likely contributed to the Chinese government’s decision to move for an outright ban.<\/p>\n

In the past play money poker has been used as a way to play real-money games in China<\/strong> and especially Hong Kong using apps called agents<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a concept that\u2019s largely unfamiliar to most western poker markets but the agents basically allowed players to wager real money on free-to-play sites.<\/p>\n

While the free-to-play sites were completely devoid of real money and consisted entirely of virtual currency the agents would allow players to put real currency behind virtual bets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The practice was particularly popular in Hong Kong where several high-stakes online private games allegedly ran<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear at this point how much agents played into the government\u2019s decision to ban free-to-play poker.<\/p>\n

Last gasp for poker in China?<\/h1>\n

The ban wasn\u2019t completely out of nowhere, as the government has shown a reluctance to permit the game in the past. Chinese National Police<\/strong> raided a PokerStars-backed APPT event in Nanjing in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no telling where poker in China goes from here but it goes without saying that it\u2019s a huge step back<\/strong> for the game.<\/p>\n

The complete legal framework for the upcoming ban hasn\u2019t been released so some of the social game developers are hopeful there will still be space to operate.<\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s Ourgame,<\/strong> one of the biggest players in Asian poker and owner of the World Poker Tour<\/strong>, released a statement saying it will conduct an in-depth examination of the new law.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unknown what will happen to the numerous live events that PokerStars runs in Macau. Interest in the game remains high. The most recent Macau Millions<\/strong> main event attracted nearly 2,500 players.<\/p>\n

It’s also unclear what will happen to the Alisports-backed International Poker Tour<\/strong>. The IPT offers various poker tournaments around the country combined with other mind sports like chess and bridge.<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Nataliya Nazarova\u00a0\/\u00a0Shutterstock.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China will ban all forms of online social media poker games as of June 1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[6],"tags":[20,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-6266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news-category","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-pokerstars"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina's Online Poker Black Friday Having Live Casino Effects<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Chinese government's ban on social poker is having an impact on both the 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