Case Description

The 2022 Qatar World Cup has come to an end, and the events are also spectacular. The "unpopular" and "hot spots" make people dizzy. At the same time, it has also made "sports lottery" and "gambling qi" once again popular among the Chinese people. In China, sports lottery tickets and welfare lottery tickets issued under the special permission of the State Council are legal, while others such as "private lottery", "Liuhe lottery", and "overseas illegal lottery tickets" are all illegal lottery tickets. Gambling qi refers to the behavior of people gambling with objective facts related to football, basketball, and other games. Because gambling qi is consistent with the elements of gambling behavior, gambling qi is also a type of gambling behavior, and any form of gambling in China is prohibited by law.

Lawyer Analysis

Participating in gambling is an illegal act, and participants can be subject to public security management penalties. According to Article 70 of the Law on Public Security Management and Punishment, anyone who provides conditions for gambling for the purpose of profit, or participates in gambling with a large amount of money, shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days and fined not less than 500 yuan but not more than 3000 yuan. "Whoever gathers people to gamble or engages in gambling as a profession shall constitute a crime of gambling.". According to the first paragraph of Article 303 of the Criminal Law, anyone who gathers people for gambling, opens a casino, or engages in gambling for the purpose of profit shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance, and shall also be fined.

Since the beginning of the 2022 World Cup, the author has found that various "gambling qi u" activities are still ongoing, with "WeChat groups and other communication tools", "gambling websites or APP" all evolving into casinos. Even the most popular live streaming platform currently displays and explains gambling content such as game status, guessing mode, odds, and betting during the live streaming process. The author has inquired about numerous cases of administrative penalties for gambling on Qiu during the 2018 World Cup, such as:

After obtaining the "Crown" online gambling account and password from Jiang, Hong logged in to the website through his mobile phone and gambled online, losing a total of over 70000 yuan. The public security organ has decided to impose an administrative penalty of 10 days of detention and a fine of 500 yuan on Hong;

At Chen's place, Pan made a bet on QIU through WeChat transfer settlement. Pan made three bets, each of which was 400 yuan, 200 yuan, and 300 yuan. The way to bet on QIU was to press the team's score. The public security organ decided to impose an administrative penalty of 500 yuan on Pan;

Wang used a mobile terminal to bet on overseas gambling websites through the mobile network, gambling in the form of Qiu. The public security organ has decided to impose an administrative penalty of ten days of administrative detention and a fine of 700 yuan on Wang
In practice, the determination of the huge amount of gambling involved is determined by the provincial public security organs based on the actual situation in the area under their jurisdiction, generally between 50 yuan and 500 yuan. For example, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau sets a large gambling capital at an individual gambling capital of more than 200 yuan, while the Henan Provincial Public Security Bureau sets a large gambling capital at an per capita participation amount of more than 200 yuan but less than 400 yuan, or a gambling capital of more than 800 yuan but less than 1600 yuan on the spot, or a winning or losing game of more than 50 yuan but less than 100 yuan. In addition, the Notice of the Ministry of Public Security on Printing and Distributing the "Discretionary Guidance Opinions of Public Security Organs on Punishments for Some Violations of Public Security Management" (II) identifies "betting and gambling using the Internet, mobile terminal devices, etc." as a serious case.

To sum up, "gambling on QIU" is an illegal or even criminal act in China, and participating in gambling on QIU may be subject to administrative or even criminal penalties. Gambling debt is also illegal and cannot be protected by law. And the gambler may suffer network telecommunications fraud during the betting process, resulting in property losses. It is recommended that fans purchase sports lottery tickets through formal channels and refuse to gamble in any form such as Qiu.