Experts have confirmed the announcement made by the Hainan Province authorities which revealed this weekend that the local law on Prohibition of Gambling has been terminated.
In fact, the weekend saw a total of 14 laws and regulations be officially abolished, but it was the termination of the Prohibition of Gambling and Prohibition of Prostitution laws which undoubtedly attracted most attention. However, experts do not believe that the move would pave the way for the legalization of gambling.
According to analysts from JP Morgan, the decision for the gambling prohibition abolishment was not a step forward towards opening the local market to casino gambling or horse racing, but more of a “non-event”, considering the fact that national laws annul local laws. The investment bank experts, instead, described such terminations of legislation as a very common practice used by Chinese provinces over the past two years.
For example, the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Fujian, Shanghai and Liaoning are among the ones which have already terminated a local ban on gambling. Despite their decision, JP Morgan projected that Macau is to remain as the only legalized casino jurisdiction in the country “in the foreseeable future”.
JP Morgan analysts have further shared that the abolition practice has been used in an attempt to get rid of unnecessary local regulations and to promote the Constitution as it was suggested by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party two years ago.
Casino Gambling and Horse Racing Not to Enter Hainan Any Time Soon
As CasinoGamesPro revealed a few months ago, the prospects of casino gambling and horse racing to officially enter the Province of Hainan cling to zero. Back in March 2019, the deputy governor of the province revealed that the free-trade zone’s authorities do not intend to roll out any plans for horse racing development by the end of the year because of some complications.
At the time, Mao Chaofeng, the deputy governor of the province, explained that horse racing is not gambling, so the proposed horse racing development as seeking permission for gambling is making a mistake. Mr. Chaofeng also explained that for the time being, no guidelines regarding the development of horse racing in the province of Hainan are planned to be released by the end of 2019.
Currently, lotteries are the only ones which are not considered a form of gambling by the Government of Mainland China. All other forms of gambling, including casino gambling, are illegal in the country. The possible addition of horse racing to the gambling would have been the first of its kind, but unfortunately, plans for such development encountered a roadblock once again. This has been probably the third attempt of the Hainan Province’s government to legalize horse racing over the last thirty years.
