Author ｜ Shao Shiwei

01
Scenarios in practice
 
Gambling websites can be roughly divided into two categories: one is gambling websites, and the other is websites that appear to be game platforms (such as blockchain games GameFi, fishing games, Texas Hold'em, sports events, etc.), but are actually gambling-related games. Since gambling-related crimes have always been one of the key areas of crackdown by my country's judicial organs, website operators generally set up servers overseas and recruit technical, operational, publicity and promotion partners in China.
According to the law, if a person, as an agent of a gambling website, recruits domestic gamblers to gamble, he or she shall be guilty of the crime of opening a casino. This is not controversial in practice.
 
However, if the agent is in China and recruits foreign gamblers to gamble on overseas gambling websites, this model does not seem to infringe on the relevant legal interests of our country (the website is located overseas, the gamblers are foreigners, and the gambling funds are foreign currency overseas).
In this context, domestic entities related to gambling websites will think about whether they can cooperate with such gambling websites. For example:
 
Software development and technical service companies will wonder if they can help operators develop this type of gambling-related software?
 
The agency operation company will wonder whether it can provide overseas agency operation services for such platforms?
 
Headhunting companies will wonder if they can recruit domestic staff for such platforms?
 
·People who learn about the website will wonder if they can attract customers for the website and earn commissions and service fees?

02
Find the answer from a case
 
Since 2010, a Korean national named Hong has opened a gambling website and established multiple gambling studios in my country, using various sports events to recruit Koreans to gamble on the website.
Zhang (a Korean national), the person in charge of the gambling website's studio in Weihai, recruited Chinese employees for the website to operate computers and provide customer service management, bet collection, cash withdrawal and other services on the Internet. He also diverted gambling funds and paid employees' wages according to Hong's instructions. Pei was responsible for renting offices, accommodation, computer procurement and maintenance, and provided multiple bank accounts in China under his own and his family's names for fund transfers and payments for the gambling website.
The court ultimately ruled[i] that Zhang and Pei’s actions constituted the crime of opening a casino, and that both played a major role in the joint crime and were the principal offenders, and should be punished according to all the crimes in which they participated.

【analyze】
 
We briefly analyze two points from this case: 1. Why does my country have jurisdiction over this case? 2. Why do the actions of Zhang, Pei and others constitute a crime?
 
The court held that the gambling website server in this case was located overseas, and most of the relevant personnel were foreign nationals, but they opened a studio in China to engage in cross-border gambling activities, with Chinese citizens participating (providing customer service management, collecting bets, withdrawing cash, etc.), disrupting the social security management order, and having direct contact with China or Chinese citizens, causing actual harm or impact. Therefore, the Chinese court has jurisdiction over this case.
 
According to reports, more than 30 people were involved in the case[ii]. In addition to Zhang and Pei, other staff members of the studio were also arrested, such as the customer service team, who were responsible for providing consulting and answering services to gamblers; the information verification team, who were responsible for verifying gambler information and promptly identifying risks such as sting operations; and the odds team, who were responsible for adjusting the website’s odds according to major sports events to increase website profits.
 
In short, the judicial authorities believe that the suspects in this case provided assistance to others while knowing that they were setting up online casinos, and therefore the related actions constituted a joint crime of setting up a casino.

03
Further thinking
 
In the above case, it is not mentioned whether there are casino agents involved. But we can use the logic of the judge in the case to make an analogy: if a domestic agent recruits foreign gamblers for a website, does it constitute the crime of opening a casino? First of all, the answer is: it does.
 
The role of the agent is to recruit more gamblers for the website, so that more people increase the amount of bets on the gambling website, so that the agent can obtain considerable commissions and service fees. Their behavior and the activities of the above-mentioned gambling website studio staff are all "providing assistance while knowing that others have opened an online casino." It can be seen from the following regulations that developing players, members, offline and providing technical support, fund settlement, advertising, etc. for gambling websites are all considered accomplices in the crime of opening a casino.
Since in the above case Zhang, who hired and managed studio employees, and Pei, who provided financial settlement and office space, were both considered to be co-offenders, then similarly, the agents who developed players for the website also constituted a co-offender in the crime of opening a casino.



04
Summarize
 
At the end of this article, we will summarize the question of whether recruiting agents for gambling websites is a crime:
 
The agent recruits foreign personnel for the website in China, which constitutes the crime of opening a casino;
 
The agent is overseas and recruits gamblers from my country for the website, which constitutes the crime of opening a casino;
 
If an agent is abroad and recruits overseas gamblers for a website, does it constitute the crime of opening a casino? This lawyer believes that this depends on whether the website has relevant licenses in the local area, whether it is legally operating, whether the local area allows foreigners to recruit agents for domestic websites, etc., and specific issues need to be analyzed specifically.