Police in Zhoushan, a city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, have arrested 98 people suspected of taking part in a city-wide illegal gambling ring in which civilians gambled over 290 million yuan ($41.3 million USD).
According to Xinhua, Zhoushan mahjong parlors teamed up with developer Shanghai Technology Co., Ltd., to open what amounted to an online casino using the “Zhoushan Mahjong” app. The parlors would establish virtual gambling rooms within the app and would get a rebate based on how much gambling activity occurred in their room. The app had exceeded 220,000 registered and 20,000 total daily users at the time of the police crackdown.
The app has grown exponentially in popularity since launching in Zhoushan in 2016 with the promise of free “gold coins” to users. In 2017, it began selling these “gold coins” while simultaneously establishing a rebate mechanism, turning the app into an illegal casino. In addition, users were encouraged, through the app, to create gambling group chats on social media platforms, which allowed Zhoushan Mahjong to spread like wildfire within the local population.
