Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) – In recent years, illegal gambling fever has gripped the Chinese people, who are drawn by the hope of easy and quick gains, but also enmeshed in a morbid passion. During the World Cup of football in Germany, the value of bets placed was estimated to be between 50 and 100 billion yuan, a sum that makes China the leader in a global turnover of around 70 billion US dollars.

According to a study by the University of Beijing, each year, more than 600 billion yuan (around 75.5 billion US dollars) leave China thanks to betting losses. Gambling has been illegal since 1949, except for that allowed in Hong Kong and Macao. But there are at least 330 Chinese websites for betting, especially on the results of football leagues in Italy, England and other nations. Overseas football games are transmitted live on television and newspapers follow the leagues. Betting money is channeled through financial businesses in Hong Kong and Macao. 

Zhu Entao, an official of the Public Security Ministry, underlined the "collusion between Chinese and foreign criminal organizations" to run the market. "Nearly all profits go abroad, amounting to tens of millions of yuan every time", a capital outflow "capable to threatening the national economy".

The criminals involved behave like businessmen: Ren Shen, one of Shanghai's betting leaders, was arrested on 24 July. He told police he worked as an agent for an overseas company and received a "commission" that was a cut of his "clients" losses. Clients deposit a sum in indicated accounts and receive an identification number; then they bet by cell phone, computer or SMS. To avoid being identified, websites change their names and addresses frequently, and use servers based overseas.

Players are drawn by the mirage of being able to "make a fortune in just one day," said Ren. "But these are illusions. Betting companies don't lose because they have much more able experts" who fix quotas to the company's sure advantage. People bet on everything: during the World Cup, people bet on results but also on who would score a goal and when, who would be cautioned or sent off. You could also bet while the game was going on.

The press and television often report cases of and statements from citizens who fell into debt because they sold all their belongings and those of their relatives due to gambling fever.

The most renowned illegal gambling ring is a Taiwanese one called Yu Kuo-ji that since 2002 has operated with "door to door" collaborators and women in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for bets on football leagues in Europe, Latin America and Asia. The press estimates that the organization has made more than 2.36 billion Hong Kong dollars (around 300 million US dollars) and calls it "Taiwan's most successful entreprenuer".