"I will never touch any gambling-related APPs again!"
After deleting all gambling APPs, Wei Ming, a young man from Chongqing, regretted bitterly: "The savings I had painstakingly accumulated for over half a year were all 'contributed' to the gambling platforms."
In just one month, he lost 40,000 yuan in his bank account and even thought about borrowing money from friends to break even. "At that time, I was completely obsessed, thinking only about how to turn things around, and no one could persuade me."
An investigation by the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter found that the gambling APPs Wei Ming was addicted to mainly featured Texas Hold'em, where players recharge to exchange for game coins to gamble. This type of game had been explicitly banned by regulatory authorities as early as 2018.
Despite continuous crackdowns by relevant departments, such platforms still lurk in the market, waiting for opportunities to re-emerge and attract customers in more covert ways.
Secretly attracting customers, losing forty thousand in one month
Wei Ming's 40,000 yuan was devoured by two gambling APPs.
"Initially it was just for fun, later I added some 'color' to make it more exciting," Wei Ming recalled. When he first recharged 200 yuan, he reminded himself to stop once he lost it. But as soon as the gambling money ran out, he did not hesitate to recharge again, "Later, every time I lost all my money, I would recharge, and the amount soared from a few hundred yuan to two or three thousand yuan, and I just couldn't stop."
It is reported that as early as 2018, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism had requested platforms to stop the download and registration of Texas Hold'em games, and at that time, more than 4,000 card and gambling games were removed. However, market demand never disappeared, and some illegal platforms used underground channels to revive.
"After the regular download channels were blocked, illegal small platforms took the opportunity to profit," revealed Lin Ya (pseudonym), who had experienced online gambling. In the Texas Hold'em group he joined, new gambling platforms were recommended every day. These APPs could not be downloaded from app stores and had to be obtained through privately provided links, even requiring changes to phone settings to access.
Wei Ming was also introduced to gambling APPs after seeing discussions on social media. The other party did not provide a download link directly but sent a text message guiding him to copy the link to a browser to open it, a rather cautious process.
Game industry observer Ma Jing stated, "Even with strict regulation, the huge temptation of the gambling market still leads some operators to take risks and try to continue profiting through underground methods."
Clubs secretly set up gambling games, circumventing chat software for recharge and withdrawal
The investigation found that some gambling groups operate in the form of "clubs," completing financial transactions through chat software.
After joining a "Texas Hold'em" QQ group, the group owner quickly guided the reporter to add a private account and pushed a gambling platform download link.
After entering the APP, the platform required the activation of camera and microphone permissions under the guise of "real-person video poker games" and did not conduct real-name authentication.
"To play the game, join a club first." The group owner strongly recommended it and provided recharge instructions: a minimum of 142 yuan for 1500 game coins. However, the platform had no direct recharge function, and the reporter's multiple attempts failed.
When the reporter consulted the group owner, the latter explained that "for safety," it was necessary to transfer money privately through chat software, with a minimum recharge of 200 yuan, and withdrawals were available immediately.
"Gambling platforms have already avoided risks and do not set up recharge and withdrawal functions within the APP," a player revealed. Recharge funds were transferred into private accounts, and the other party manually added game coins; for withdrawals, players contacted the other party to exchange game coins for cash.
"Many people who won money could not withdraw it and were even directly blocked," Ma Jing said, indicating that gambling platforms are illegally operated, and players' funds are not secured at all.
Fu Jian, director of Henan Zejin Law Firm, pointed out that no matter how the recharge path changes, the essence is still gambling, "Players may face property loss, even administrative penalties; personnel organizing platforms might be suspected of opening a gambling house."
Reskinning to create new platforms, overseas registration is not a protective talisman
The reporter found that the interfaces and gameplay of different gambling APPs are very similar, even the registration and recharge processes are identical.
"These games are essentially the same, just reskinned to launch different platforms," revealed game developer Ah Miao. The code for card games has long been circulating in the market, and programmers only need to adjust the interface to create a new platform within a week.
Ah Miao had been commissioned by an overseas team to develop similar games, with the client requesting integration of gameplay such as fighting landlords and mahjong, and adding a recharge function. "They have several APPs on hand, and as soon as one platform is blocked, they immediately launch a new version."
Some players worry about gambling platforms being investigated and shut down, but promoters are unconcerned, saying, "Play with confidence, the website is registered overseas, and domestic authorities can't manage it."
However, in reality, many gambling platforms still operate domestically, only setting their registration locations in Southeast Asia, South America, and other places to evade regulation.
"Under the principle of territorial jurisdiction, any gambling platform operating domestically cannot escape regulation," Ma Jing pointed out.
Fu Jian emphasized that even if the platform is registered overseas, as long as it provides gambling services to Chinese players, it violates Chinese law. Regulatory authorities can monitor traffic through technical means, cooperate with financial institutions to block payment channels, and utilize international judicial cooperation to combat cross-border.
The end of the gambling game is nothing but a loss of capital
"I always fantasized about winning back, only to realize in the end that it was a bottomless pit."
After deleting the gambling APPs, Wei Ming finally sobered up, but 40,000 yuan had vanished.
The end of gambling has always been the same: a complete loss of capital.
And for those still trying to take risks, the punishment of the law will eventually come.
