A decision has been made for a China online poker ban which will hurt the industry throughout Asia and beyond, says Hong Kong Poker Players Association managing director Stephen Lai. According to Macau-based Inside Asian Gaming, as of June 1 online poker and the promotion of the game via all social media channels will be banned. Poker has experienced a rapid rise in China despite the fact people are unable to play for money and Lai said the decision to ban it altogether would have a negative impact on places such as Macau, Manila and South Korea’s Jeju island. “It…

Chinese police have arrested 15,000 people on suspicion of cybercrimes (including gambling) as the government tightens its control over the Internet, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday. Police throughout the country have investigated more than 7,400 cases of possible cybercrimes, including hacking, online fraud and illegal sale of personal information, resulting in 15,000 arrests, the ministry said. It did not say when the arrests were made. Authorities launched a six-month special operation to clean the Internet in July, but some of the cases date back as far as December. Beijing considers the Internet to be a virtual territory that…

Wall Street Journal – From the outside, there doesn’t appear to be anything special about Ren Ningning’s farm southeast of Beijing, tucked among plots of lotus root and other crops. But once beyond the redbrick wall and locked iron gate, a visitor enters into a rich man’s fantasy land—a sprawling, 100-acre equestrian estate with row after row of stables and some of the priciest horses in China. There is a clubhouse filled with racing paraphernalia: saddles emblazoned with Chinese flags, medals and trophies from past victories, and an odd enormous floor lamp—in the shape of a horse, of course. Outside, there’s space for…

Want China Times – After years of smooth sailing, casino-related stocks on the Hong Kong market have finally seen their wild party coming to an end, with the eight major casino stocks seeing their market value nosedive by HK$191.5 billion (US$24.7 billion) this year as of May 12, reports Guangzhou’s 21st Century Business Herald. What triggered the crash was concerted action between China’s central government and the Macao government in cracking down on underground gambling of Chinese mainlanders at Macao casinos. High rollers from mainland China account for two thirds of the region’s gambling income, and Macau has become a…

Las Vegas Sun – They’re buying into Las Vegas like never before. They’re pumping cash into major resort projects and big stage productions on the Strip and they’re purchasing single-family homes in quiet neighborhoods. Who are they? Chinese investors. And they’re propelling Las Vegas’ recovery from the recession. They are quietly helping to bankroll the $415-million SLS Las Vegas, a nightclub-themed resort set to replace the Rat Pack stomping grounds of the Sahara and shake up the struggling north end of the Strip. A quarter of the investment came from foreign bank accounts, mostly in China. Money from China is…

San Francisco Gate – An actor in a plush panda suit bounds across the stage with the enthusiasm of a minor league baseball mascot, flanked by acrobats atop bamboo poles, stone-faced kung-fu fighters and over-the-top visual effects rarely seen off the Las Vegas Strip. “PANDA!” — the first Chinese-produced show to take up a long-term residency on the famous tourist corridor — also takes pains to weave in Chinese folklore and motifs, including sweeping views of an ultra-modern Beijing skyline on giant LCD screens. The loose, wordless plot needs no translation. The subtext doesn’t either: A growing, confident China wants respect, not…