China Issues a Ban on VPN's

As we all know, China is very restrictive towards its citizens when it comes to internet access. Up until recently, the way to get around the great internet wall of China and gain access to forbidden sites like Facebook or YouTube – but also international online casinos – was by using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

But now, all of the country’s mobile operators are instructed to ban the use of all VPN’s in a government move that marks the start of a program that will last 14 months, under the jurisdiction of its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Also, all software that allows the use of VPN’s or in any way assists users in avoiding state censorship of the internet, is under crackdown. Developers of VPN apps have been under fire recently by state agents who have required them to take down their apps from services like Apple’s App Store. VPN providers now need to have a license that demands the sharing of users’ online activities with special governmental sectors that monitor and control the online behavior of their citizens. The full VPN block will go into effect by February 1, 2018.

China’s take on gambling is also very stern: only some sports lotteries and welfare games run by states are allowed on land, while all other forms of gambling are prohibited. In order to play live casino games or bet on sports, Chinese citizens had to use VPNs in order to gain access to international gambling sites. Even such an industry behemoth like Apple had to comply to the severity of this new regulation (even though their App Store revenue keeps rising in China), which speaks a lot about the seriousness of the Chinese government’s intentions. Besides mass internet censorship, the other reason often cited behind this move is the protection of state-owned telecom companies like China Telecom who will have the monopoly on all internet traffic. Ultimately, it is also about the control, not the complete closure of international internet, as was indirectly confirmed in China’s President’s speech during a recent anniversary of the foundation of Peoples’ Liberation Army, when he implied that the country’s sovereignty extends beyond just their mainland and into the online realm.

This will, for sure, negatively impact the influx of Chinese players to international gambling sites. How severe do you think these measures will impact the online gambling operators who will now miss punters from China?

Source:

“China’s VPN Developers Face Crackdown”, Brant Robin, bbc.com, August 10, 2017.