On November 29, the Supreme People's Procuratorate held a press conference with the theme of "Performing procuratorial functions in accordance with the law and severely punishing crimes of opening casinos" to release typical cases of procuratorial organs punishing crimes of opening casinos in accordance with the law.
Prosecutors punish typical cases of the crime of opening casinos in accordance with the law
1. The case of eleven people including Liu XX and Zeng XX opening a casino
【Basic case】
In 2018, the defendants Liu Moumou, Zeng Moumou, etc., after deliberation, moved the software servers of the "Extreme Speed" and "Dingxin" online gambling markets that were originally built in China to operate in a certain country for combined operation. Recruiting personnel leaving the country is responsible for the operation and management of the casino.
The casino opens "Beijing Racing", "Chongqing Times Lottery", "Lucky Airship" and other gambling projects, and publishes information through telecommunication networks, and organizes and solicits 9242 people from more than ten provinces including Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi and other provinces to gamble as members. , And gradually expanded and added multiple betting orders by giving members "rebates", customer service staff commissions, and development agents.
As of the incident in November 2019, the gambling capital involved in the case has reached more than 2.4 billion yuan, and the criminal gang has illegally made more than 24 million yuan.
On March 2, 2021, the People’s Court of Liancheng County, Fujian Province sentenced 11 defendants, including Liu Moumou and Zeng Moumou, to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from seven years to one year for the crime of opening a casino, and imposed a fine of up to 550,000 yuan. .
The case was heard in the second instance and the judgment has come into effect.
[After handling the case]
The People’s Procuratorate of Liancheng County, Fujian Province intervened in the case in advance, guided the public security organs to obtain relevant evidence through technical means, and identified the gambling capital involved in the case and the illegal profits of the relevant personnel in accordance with the law; only 11 people were involved in the case against 33 people involved in the case. Some people involved in the case, especially the core personnel responsible for the financial management of casinos, were stranded overseas and have not been brought back to the case. The procuratorial organs actively performed their legal supervision responsibilities, and jointly adopted the strengthening of policy and legal propaganda with the public security organs, and urged the people in the case and their families to mobilize their accomplices to surrender to the case.
The latter part of the persons involved in the case took the initiative to return to China from abroad to surrender the case.
【Typical Significance】
1. The case is of great social harm.
Internet gambling, a new type of casino crime, has seriously endangered the people’s property safety and legitimate rights and interests, undermined social integrity and social order, and caused victims to fall into a quagmire.
The case involved a wide area, a large number of people, and a large amount of money involved. The 16 gambling personnel investigated and collected by the investigative agency lost a total of more than 5 million yuan, and none of them made a profit.
Among them, some gambling personnel lost more than 1.1 million yuan in just half a month, bankrupting their fortunes, leading to a break in the capital chain of production and operation projects; Tian is addicted to online gambling, playing with things and loses his ambition; some gambling personnel are fathers and sons, and lose hundreds of thousands of yuan. Due to debts, fathers and sons turn against each other.
2. The procuratorial organ persists in implementing the criminal policy of both leniency and strictness in handling cases.
In order to severely punish the crime in accordance with the law, the procuratorial agency comprehensively considered the social harm of the case in its sentencing recommendations in accordance with the law, and recommended that probation should not be applied to all defendants. For the amount of profit, it is recommended to impose a corresponding fine on each defendant in order to deprive them of the ability to commit a crime again.
At the same time, for defendants who pleaded guilty and repented and successfully persuaded their co-partners to surrender, they were deemed meritorious in accordance with the law, and it is recommended that their punishment be mitigated.
The court adopted the relevant opinions of the procuratorial organ.
2. A series of casinos opened by Wu Mou and other 63 people
【Basic case】
From 1999 to August 2020, Wu, Deng, etc., and Xu (handled in another case) entangled each other, relying on a foreign casino, in the name of "business activities" such as golf, resorted to traveling, living, and living. The integrated gambling business model organizes Chinese citizens to stay in the hotel where the casino is located and participate in gambling activities in the casino.
After 2020, in order to seek more illegal benefits, the criminal organization relies on the physical casino to develop online gambling services for Chinese citizens, and develops the Chinese "code-shuffling" personnel of the physical casino into the agent of the shareholders of the gambling website, and then through the shareholders Agency development of lower-level agents and members.
Shareholder agents and subordinate agents use WeChat, Alipay, bank card transfers and other methods to collect gambling funds, and obtain illegal benefits through a 50-50 split with gambling websites and a commission of 0.8% of the gambler's betting amount.
The criminal organization has developed 51 Chinese shareholder agents and subordinate agents, and developed hundreds of Chinese gambling members, and involved gambling funds of 250 million yuan.
[After handling the case]
The case was filed and investigated by the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Agency in Guangdong Province. The People’s Procuratorate of Conghua District, Guangzhou City, through early intervention, guided the investigation and collection of evidence, put forward guiding investigation opinions on the characterization of the case, determination of facts, and evidence collection, and comprehensively improved the evidence system of the case.
Because the case has the characteristics of major criminal acts being carried out abroad, a large number of people involved, and successive cases, the procuratorial organ has divided the cases for the persons in the case. At present, all cases in this series of cases have been prosecuted in accordance with the law, and they have organized Chinese citizens to go abroad for gambling. , 11 casino executives and key members who recruited Chinese citizens to participate in online gambling were severely punished in accordance with the law, and proposed sentences ranging from six to three years in prison. The court adopted the sentencing recommendations of the prosecutors and has already pronounced them.
【Typical Significance】
1. Some private business owners have become the key targets of overseas gambling criminal groups to "encircle hunting".
In this case, the criminals used private business owners with more economic strength as the key target group, and organized private business owners in my country to go abroad to stay in casinos in the name of cooperating with "commercial companies" to organize going abroad or cooperating with travel agencies to attract golf customers. The hotel where they are located is involved in gambling, and some gambling personnel have been lured step by step to become agents, continue to organize other personnel to go abroad for gambling, and commit crimes of opening casinos.
The defendants in this case, Wen Mo and Wang, were originally private business owners. They first became gambling members and then registered as agents in order to quickly "turn over". In the end, they fell into the quagmire and embarked on the path of crime. The enterprise is also facing bankruptcy due to the lack of a leader in the group.
2. Some migrant workers abroad have weak legal awareness and embark on the path of crime in order to earn "quick money".
Due to the epidemic, gangs that have committed crimes of opening casinos abroad have often begun to transform to online casinos in order to continue to seek illegal profits.
In this series of cases, Deng and others were originally kitchen employees of the casino, and later worked part-time "code washing" to earn "quick money", and registered as the shareholder agent of the casino website to solicit Chinese citizens to participate in online gambling.
Mou is the head of the personnel department of the casino, knowing that the criminal gang has organized Chinese citizens to go abroad for gambling and soliciting Chinese citizens to participate in online gambling. He is still responsible for recruiting and training "croupiers" (persons responsible for licensing and other matters in the casino) , Become a helper in the crime of opening a casino.
The two were originally ordinary migrant workers abroad, but due to their weak legal awareness, they have always mistakenly believed that they were engaged in legal work abroad, and eventually became members of a criminal group and embarked on the path of crime.
Three, Song Moumou and other 11 people opened a casino case
【Basic case】
Malaysian resident Xiong Moumou (formerly Chinese nationality, fugitive), from October 2017 to August 2019, carried out the crime of opening a casino online for illegal gains.
In order to facilitate the collection and settlement of gambling funds with domestic gambling personnel, the defendants Song Moumou, Jia Moumou, Wei Moumou and others conspired with Xiong Moumou abroad to hire the defendant Wan Mou and others in Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. Changzhi City and other places set up "online studios" to send gambling advertising information for Xiong's online gambling platform, provide gambling platform links, and purchase a large number of bank cards, ID cards, online banking USB shields, and Alipay (commonly known as "four-piece suits" ), used to collect gambling funds for online gambling platforms.
Settlement of gambling funds overseas through online banking, or directly withdrawing cash, smuggling across the border and transporting gambling funds overseas, the funds involved in the case are as high as more than 300 million yuan.
It was also found that some members of the gang also committed crimes such as illegal detention, theft, cover-up and concealment of criminal proceeds, and loan fraud.
The People’s Court of Salt Lake District, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province issued a first-instance judgment on June 29, 2021, and sentenced the defendant Song Moumou and other 11 people for eight years, six months to two years for the crime of opening a casino, illegal detention, and illegal crossing of the border. Fixed-term imprisonment ranging from six months, and a corresponding fine.
The judgment has come into effect.
[Case handling process]
In handling the case, the procuratorial organ of Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province accurately determined the facts and accurately applied the law.
The procuratorate believes that the purchase and use of the "four-piece" in the process of online gambling website settlement of gambling funds is implemented for the purpose of online gambling settlement of gambling funds. It is part of the crime of opening a casino and should be evaluated as a crime of opening a casino.
【Typical Significance】
Taking advantage of the convenience of the Internet, in the new gambling crimes, the receipt and payment and realization of gambling funds as an important part of the crime of opening a casino to make huge profits has become an independent implementation link.
In this case, Song and others did not directly implement the act of opening a casino, but they conspired in advance with the personnel who organized the implementation of online gambling to collect and settle the gambling funds and realize it, and constituted with Xiong, who directly committed the crime of opening a casino. Joint crimes should be evaluated according to the crime of opening a casino.
At the same time, in the new type of casino opening crime, because the division of labor is more detailed, the crime chain is long, and the number of participants is large, it is also prone to derive and associated multiple crimes. The members also committed other crimes such as illegal detention and illegal crossing of national borders, which caused great social harm.
Fourth, Tang XX and other 9 people opened a casino case
【Basic case】
"Depuquan" APP is an online Texas Hold'em software.
In March 2018, the defendants Tang Moumou and Wang Moumou established the “Cloud Top Club” through the grouping function of the platform in the “Depu Circle” APP, attracting gamblers to use the software to use Texas Hold'em in the club. Gambling.
Gamblers can bet against other gamblers, or against the system. Tang and others use Union currency ("virtual currency" in the application software) to settle the gamblers. 1 Union currency corresponds to 1 RMB. The gambler recharges to WeChat or Alipay provided by the customer service, and the customer service will add the corresponding amount of alliance currency in the gambler's club account.
After the gambling is over, the gambler can ask the customer service to withdraw cash and convert the alliance currency into real money.
From June 2019 to May 2020, "Cloud Top Club" accepted gamblers' gambling amount of more than 6.97 million yuan, and 9 people including Tang Moumou made illegal profits of more than 3 million yuan.
The People’s Court of Tianning District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province issued a first-instance verdict on the case on June 21, 2021, and sentenced Tang Moumou and other 9 people to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from four years and six months to ten months for the crime of opening a casino. Impose a corresponding fine.
The case was heard in the second instance and the judgment has come into effect.
[Case handling process]
In the process of handling the case, the People’s Procuratorate of Tianning District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province listed multiple supplementary investigation outlines, guided the investigative agencies to investigate the whereabouts of the stolen money, clarified the nature of the money, seized 2 sets of real estate, seized 1 car, and frozen bank account funds More than 500,000 yuan, actively urging the defendant to return the stolen goods.
At the same time, the procuratorial organs actively explained the law and reasoned, and 8 defendants voluntarily pleaded guilty and pleaded guilty.
【Typical Significance】
In recent years, online gambling crimes have occurred frequently and the methods have been renovated. Criminals have established online gambling platforms and accepted bets under the guise of online games and virtual currencies to attract the masses to participate in gambling.
In this case, the defendant used the online chess and card game application to exchange virtual currency offline to commit the crime of opening a casino. For this kind of behavior, the essence of this behavior should be seen through the phenomenon, from whether there are funds and physical exchanges during the game, and whether there is a tap Fishery behavior and so on to accurately determine whether it is entertainment or gambling.
In the name of a game, those who can exchange for cash, securities or other property by paying the registration fee or cash in exchange for chips to participate in the game are essentially illegal gambling and will be severely punished by the law.
Five, Chen Moumou and other 14 people opened a casino case
【Basic case】
From October 2018 to August 2020, Chen Moumou and others hired Zhu Moumou, Ding Moumou, etc. to establish studios in a certain country, forming a relatively fixed gambling crime group, and set up duty finance, host, and push code operators , Agency and other positions.
The criminal group established an online gambling platform through domestic instant messaging application software, organized Chinese citizens to watch overseas gambling live videos and accept bets through live broadcast websites in the country, and profited by casino code shuffling rebates.
Among them, the on-duty financer is responsible for providing gamblers with gambling recharge, cash withdrawal and other fund settlement services, and sending the casino live website URL and table number; the host is responsible for accepting bets from gamblers in the gambling group, counting the betting situation and publishing the results of winning and losing; The pusher is responsible for the casino's live betting.
During the period, the criminal group handled transfers and gambling funds of more than 87.46 million yuan.
The People's Court of Pingyang County, Zhejiang Province made a first-instance judgment on June 25, 2021, and sentenced the defendant Chen to five-year imprisonment and fined him for the crime of opening a casino. The judgment has come into effect.
The remaining accomplices are still in the review and prosecution stage.
[After handling the case]
In the process of handling the case, the People’s Procuratorate of Pingyang County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, accurately identified the structure of the criminal group members, prudently adopted compulsory measures, adhered to the principle of layered treatment and distinguished responsibilities, and rejected the approval of the six general participants of the criminal group Arrest; when the investigative agency transferred the prosecution, the involved gambling funds were only 340,000 yuan, and the gambling funds were identified as difficult and other issues. Through self-supplemented investigations, the black and gray industrial chain used for payment and settlement was used as the entry point to reverse the gambling settlement path and investigate crimes The large and abnormal flow of payment and settlement accounts of relevant personnel and relatives of the group, clarified the gambling payment and settlement accounts and the determination rules for the amount of gambling funds, and increased the originally recognized gambling funds from RMB 340,000 to RMB 87.46 million.
【Typical Significance】
In recent years, cross-border gambling criminal activities have migrated to the Internet. The determination of the amount of gambling funds often needs to be verified by electronic evidence, which is difficult to determine.
The accurate determination of this fact is not only conducive to cracking down on gambling crimes in accordance with the law, cutting off the chain of interests of criminals through illegal crimes, but also helping to destroy the economic foundation of such crimes and depriving criminals of the ability to commit recidivism to the greatest extent.
In this case, the procuratorial organ gave full play to its procuratorial function, through its own supplementary investigations, accurately determined the amount of gambling money for the opening of a casino, severely cracked down on such crimes in accordance with the law, and actively implemented the criminal justice policy of fewer arrests and detentions to achieve the unity of the "three effects" in handling the case. .