China, the world’s second largest economy, is not just growing in manufacturing but also in services and especially in gaming. The latest revenue reports on both Macau casinos and online gambling in China show 8 billion US dollars in profits in 2012. The expected revenue for 2013 is 11 billion US dollars.
Although online gambling has been experiencing steady growth throughout the years, thanks to the positive developments of the economy and the increase of mobile technology usage, many local Chinese governments are still reluctant to make it fully legal, mostly allowing welfare lotteries for the time being.
According to Xue YongFeng, a researcher at the Beijing based International Analysis: The sector is expected to maintain a 50 percent annual growth rate over the next three years.
The International Analysis report also forecasts a 17 billion US dollar revenue contribution from the browser games sector in 2015.
Nevertheless, the latest Chinese government policies on Internet information control cast a shadow on this news. This is mainly because of the new restrictions imposed on Internet users, who are being forced to use their real names and IDs when registering and signing up with network providers.
According to the Chinese government’s deputy head of parliament’s legislative affairs committee, Li Fei:
When people exercise their rights, including the right to use the internet, they must do so in accordance with the law and constitution, and not harm the legal rights of the state, society … or other citizens.