Sports Wagering in China
Matt Dominique | May 26, 2018
Most westerners have very little understanding of China. The country is literally on other side of the world and until recently was very closed off from western countries. With the Chinese economy pulling the country in a capitalistic direction, China is compelled to work with western countries more so than ever.
That brings me to the point of this article; With legalized sports betting budding the way it is in the west, many wonder what is sports betting like in China. Is it legal? Where do they bet? What do they bet on?
Technically, gambling is illegal in China. But, like the hypocrisy that exists in the United States, the government runs state sponsored lotteries that bilk the people for money. The government in China runs two lotteries: the China Sports Lottery and the China Welfare Lottery. There are many illegal places to bet in China. The Chinese people are well known for their love of card game betting and Mahjong, a game played with marked tiles.
China is bursting at the seems with people. They currently have 1.35 billion people (see China’s live population counter). With that many people, it is hard to police them all. So, many illegal numbers rackets and bookies exist. The sports they bet are wushu (ancient game like soccer), cuju and various other martial art competitions that also sound like they could be dog names. They also bet ping-pong, tennis, golf and cycling.
Many Chinese people take to the internet to wager on sports as well. They use many of the same online bookmakers you hear about in the west: William Hill, Betonline, Bet365 and Unibet to name a few. The convenience of bitcoin and other concurrency has made betting online feasible for most anyone in the world. I would say you can place a wager using these tools from anywhere in the world barring North Korea.
The demo is thought to be overwhelming male base when it comes to sports betting. Like women on this side of the globe, Chinese women tend to enjoy the non-sports related type of betting. Although, there are definitely women who like to bet sports in China.
