South-East Asia pulls back on online gambling as China rages

A supervisor looks over spread sheets of bets being placed while operators work in the background at NASA Sports International in San Jose, Costa Rica. Internet gambling knows no borders. - Filepic

Hong Kong: South-East Asian countries are moving against their lucrative online gambling industries amid pressure from China to clamp down on a practice that’s ballooned due to demand from its own citizens.

Weeks after China lashed out at the Philippines for encouraging offshore gambling, which it said targets Chinese customers and causes the illegal outflow of hundreds of millions of yuan, the Philippine gaming regulator said it would stop accepting applications for new online gaming operations at least until the end of the year to review concerns about the burgeoning sector.