Live online shows that promote gambling bet on lax supervision

People, who are called "hosts", speak to their audiences through live video streaming platforms. [Photo/China Daily]

BEIJING NEWS REPORTED THAT the online platform Xingqiu is suspected of organizing gambling in the guise of live broadcasts. It recruits young women to host online guessing competitions and attract people to bet with virtual currency that must be bought with real money. Some players have reportedly lost more than 1 million yuan ($145,180) within a few months. The newspaper comments:

The Criminal Law unambiguously prohibits gambling. With the development of the internet, in 2006, the Supreme People's Court issued a judicial interpretation that specified online gambling was also a crime. In 2010, the court further explained details about the judicial explanation.

According to the criminal law and the interpretation, the organizers of the online gambling broadcasts have obviously committed a crime.

In the Beijing News report, someone with the platform argued that it prohibits the players from exchanging their virtual money into real money so it is not really gambling. But that argument does not hold water because there is an underground chain for cashing in the virtual money, in which the news anchor, who gets the virtual money as gifts from gamblers, exchanges it for real money and gives it to them. In this way, those taking part can gamble and win or lose money.

The platform itself is involved in the cashing in process. It even profits from that. With the whole thing uncovered, the judiciary will likely take an interest in the broadcasts.

It is time we strengthened regulatory measures from the outside, as an essential cause of the chaos in the live broadcast industry is those supposed to be supervisors get involved in the illegal activities.

Certain government departments must be given power and responsibility to better supervise these platforms to end the chaos in the live broadcast market.