WeChat should not become WeGamble

Has it ever occurred to you that sending or receiving hongbao (red envelopes) through WeChat could be a crime?

The ongoing UEFA Euro 2016 has made betting through WeChat a "fashionable" way of gambling. As cracked cases show, gamblers can bet on the result of a soccer match or other games in a chat group by sending/receiving hongbao. The "hongbao" service allows users to make small one-to-one payments or to distribute small amounts within a group. Based on special rules of sending and receiving hongbao, such as betting on sports events, a chat group can be easily turned into an online gambling table.

Although playing cards or mahjong is a favorite pastime among Chinese, gambling is strictly prohibited. The boundary between the two is whether the organizer and participants have the objective of making profit. According to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, running a gambling house, assembling a group of people to engage in gambling or making gambling a profession to make money is a crime, and offenders could be imprisoned for up to three years and concurrently fined.