Beijing, 5 May (Zhongxin Net) -- In view of the prominent trends and characteristics of current rural gambling activities, Qi Xiguo, second-level inspector of the Public Security Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, said on 31 May that gambling cases are still prone to occur frequently in some rural areas, mainly showing five major characteristics: First, local "entanglement" gambling is the main form; second, "professional" gangs account for a certain proportion; third, concealment and increased mobility; fourth, they are more tempting and deceptive; and fifth, they are socially harmful.

The Ministry of Public Security held a press conference in Beijing on the 31st to inform the public security organs of the work measures and results of the "Clean Wind 2023" special operation. Qi Xiguo introduced at the meeting that in recent years, under the continuous crackdown and rectification of public security organs, the problem of gambling in rural areas has been curbed to a certain extent. However, judging from the implementation of the "Clean Breeze 2023" special operation, gambling cases are still prone to occur frequently in some rural areas, mainly showing the following characteristics:

First, local "agglomeration" gambling is the main form. Most of the gambling activities in rural areas are gathered by local people with ex-convictions involved in gambling and "old gamblers", and most of the gambling participants are local idle and unemployed people. During the Spring Festival holiday, the "homecoming stream" became the main group for inviting gambling. According to statistics, in the "clean wind" operation, local "entangled" gambling cases investigated by local public security organs accounted for more than 60% of rural gambling criminal cases.

Second, "professional" gangs account for a certain proportion. With the increasing convenience of rural transportation and the continuous improvement of income levels, "professional" gambling gangs have opened mobile casinos in rural areas, from planning site selection, managing debt collection, on-site care, remote lookout to lending and debt collection, etc., which have always been the focus of the public security organs' crackdown. The top ten typical cases of the "Clean Wind 2023" special operation announced by the Ministry of Public Security have all been "professional" gangs. In order to severely punish such acts in accordance with the law, the Criminal Law Amendment (<>) increases the penalty for the crime of opening a casino, amending the maximum penalty under normal circumstances from "three years of fixed-term imprisonment" to "five years of fixed-term imprisonment", and if the circumstances are serious, the maximum penalty is <> years of fixed-term imprisonment.

Third, concealment and increased liquidity. Under the continuous crackdown and rectification by the public security organs, gambling gangs mostly choose to set up mobile gambling in mountainous forests, abandoned factories, breeding farms, etc. in remote rural areas, "shooting a shot and changing places", and some have moved to inter-provincial, inter-city, and inter-county border areas where the geographical location is more remote and the control force is weaker. In the "Clean Breeze" campaign, nearly a quarter of the rural gambling-related criminal cases were cases of moving across counties and districts to open casinos.

Fourth, it is more tempting and deceptive. It is known that there are more than 100 kinds of gambling games in rural areas, in addition to traditional gambling methods such as chess and cards, mahjong, and betting treasure, in recent years, online gambling has also begun to spread in rural areas, and its radiation area is larger and more tempting. Some new forms of gambling target the psychology of a small number of people who get something for nothing, creating the illusion of making quick money, but they still cannot escape the deceptive essence of "ten gamblings and ten deceptions" and "ten gamblings and ten losses".

Fifth, it is very harmful to society. Once anyone is infected with the bad habit of gambling, it is very easy to encourage the unhealthy trend of opportunism and unearned gain, which will affect the construction of rural style and civilization and the revitalization and development of rural areas. Underground casinos are often accompanied by problems such as competition for customers, disputes over gambling funds, and demand for gambling debts, which are easy to collude with criminal and evil forces, bringing potential security risks to rural social security. (End)