China to start blocking gambling sites through VPN crackdown

Overseas gambling sites will be blocked in China by next year after state-run telecoms operators were told to begin cracking down on virtual private networks (VPN).

Earlier this year, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that all VPN services would need to obtain government approval, as part of a “clean up” of unauthorised internet connections.

VPNs can be used to access banned sites, with many Chinese citizens able to visit news sites, social media services like Facebook and Twitter and gambling platforms.

According to Bloomberg, the Chinese government has now said action must be taken by February 1.

Last year, Bet365, the world's largest igaming firm, told iGaming Business it is not operating illegally in China in response to accusations made against the company earlier this week by anonymous short seller Spotlight Research.

In a statement to iGaming Business, Bet365 said the note was “self-serving, misleading and inaccurate”, adding that as it does not have an operational base in China, it is not breaking any of the country’s laws related to gambling.

The note alleged that Bet365 is running a gambling website catering to Chinese customers and that this would likely be considered illegal and could be used to evade Chinese capital controls.

Related article: Bet365: ‘We are not breaking Chinese laws’