Online Gambling Report On China

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China is the second most populous country in the world. The ancient Chinese culture has a history of gambling. The modern game of keno originated in China thousands of years ago. However hard facts and credible estimates have not been available in the public domain so far.

Now, Peter Pang, a lawyer in Washington and specialist on the gambling industry in China, wrote an article in a law intelligence journal with relevant data. He first pointed out that gambling is illegal in China, exceptin the Special Administrative Region of Macau. However, according to the Center for China Lottery Studies in Beijingin 2010 around $15 billion in illegal gambling took place in the country, and at least half of it via online or mobile devices.The number of players who engaged in this remote gambling has been estimated as half a billion. The demand is clearly there. Pang cautioned that the dream of tapping into this demand may have to wait because changes in regulations to allow for online gaming in China will not happen overnight.

In his article Pang revealed certain other statistics that will warm the hearts of online gambling operators seeking a share in the Chinese pie, even if that share may materialize only several years down the line. There were one billion mobile telephone users, 400 million mobile Internet users and 150 million 3G phone users in China as at May 2012. The broadband Internet users in China total 513 million, accounting for only 38% of the total population. By comparison, the US has only 245 million broadband Internet users, with a penetration rate of nearly 78%. 140,000 Internet cafes and bars operate 14 million computers which each log an average of 11 hours continuous use each day. Most people use this for Internet gaming. China Internet Watch figures reveal that on an average, China's Internet users spend 2.6 hours per day online.

According to Pang online gambling regulation will be enforced in a step-by-step manner. He expects political changes that will usher in lotteries, gaming for tokens, betting on horse racing and bingo, hopefully sometime in 2013. The online gambling industry realizes the potential that China presents and many operators are even preparing themselves for the realization of this potential. Forward looking companies are already establishing presences in the country through Chinese partnerships.

Pang has studied law in a number of leading American institutions such as Santa Clara Law School, University of Houston and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He has also studied law and economics in China and Hong Kong.Pang works for the law firm of Dickinson Wright and travels between Washington and Shanghai.

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