Legal status of online poker in Thailand, China

[ZeTurd]

Random question of the day: Anyone know anything about online poker legislation in these two countries?

[MiltonFriedman]

Neteller considers China to be a "grey area" ... just like they deemed Canada to be.

Inexplicably, they decided to exit Canada, their biggest remaining market, because it was "grey", while launching in China, a darker shade of grey.

[thelogan]

Some random question, it could take months to write a response to this. Anyway, here is the 2 minute version.

The answer is yes, online gambling is illegal in both China and Thailand if you listen to their respective governments.

The answer could be no if you look at their legislation which has zero mention of online gambling and accessing websites from overseas.

However in Thailand the police ministry force Thai ISPs to block any well known gambling sites. Being a sports bettor as well as a poker player, I know for a fact that they block Betfair, Ladbrokes, William Hill etc, and access is impossible via Thai ISPs. A Police dept screenshot comes up when you type in the address, which says that these sites are forbidden in Thailand.

I don't know if the same problem exists for Poker sites, but I suspect that it does. The new current government in Thailand is a junta, hence do not expect any change in the near future in regards to online gambling. It's 5 years away from being a reality.

China is too complex an issue to address clearly. Gambling goes against the communist party ideology, however the Chinese are the most inveterate gamblers in the World. It is already a massive market in China (online gambling) and despite its illegality, the government are quietly tolerating certain sites and gambling products in some provinces and gauging the results carefully. There is no doubt that China will eventually regulate, the question is when and how. I suspect it will be a gradual process, and being a betting man, I suspect it will be before Thailand. However Poker is not a big game in China, so I think Sports betting will be a much bigger priority to the regulators.

Once China regulates, you might well see other Asian countries finally open up their markets, as it is nigh on impossible to deposit money in Asia through credit cards and the processing fees of Neteller and the like are silly to both the customer and operator.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

its illegal in these countries, but you wont have a problem playing from them. just dont use their banks.

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
its illegal in these countries, but you wont have a problem playing from them. just dont use their banks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have about 12 clients on my computer. 1/2 of the don't seem to work from Thailand.

Party, FTP, Stars all work OK.

I have trouble getting onto absolute, Prima, and a few others.

[MiltonFriedman]

The sites' reason is a strong history of fraud. In 2001, a single Thai fraudster cost Party 3 months worth of its income before the entire country was blocked by Party.

[AnthonyH]

[ QUOTE ]
just dont use their banks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does this mean I should use an American bank account to fund Party poker from China? How about if I use a Chinese neteller? Should I fund it using an American or Chines bank account?

[Danimal 3000]

I know that you can cash out to a chinese bank, though depositing from them i'm not so sure about it. mostly we just do western union or borrow from a high stakes player /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[vilemerchant]

How are the living expenses in Thailand? I imagine it'd be one of those places you get quite a lot of bang for your US$?