About Face In China On Online Gambling?
Published: Thursday, September 14, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
ABOUT FACE IN CHINA ON ONLINE GAMBLING?
It hardly seems likely, but Pacific Net exec is hopeful
The People's Republic of China, long vehemently opposed to online gambling, is considering legalising the pastime, according to Tony Tong, CEO of Pacific Net, which sells Baccarat machines. And he says that the government would likely license companies to establish themselves in Macau, already a (land) casino capital.
Quoting Tong, CNet News reports that the Chinese government now takes significant tax, around 40 percent, on the house winnings in Macau. Spreading gambling online could be a huge further boost to government revenues as some of the major companies anxious to access the Asian market came forward.
GigaMedia, the Taiwanese group which bought the Canadian online gambling company Grand Virtual and sells software for poker and other games, is hoping to expand into China as well. The company's FunTown site already claims to be the largest Mahjong site in the world, where players play for points and prizes.
Over 50 percent of FunTown's subscribers spend over 100 hours on the website a week. GigaMedia is also behind EverestPoker, a rapidly growing poker site in Europe.
The U.K. will likely become a major centre for online gaming, too a GigaMedia representative said.
Pacific Net's Baccarat machines, by the way, aren't your ordinary computerized gaming machines. Tong says that Chinese gamblers don't like random number generators. Instead, the machines stream video over the Internet of a live dealer dealing live hands.
