Hotel Bar Closed Due to Illegal Gambling

For the second time, a bar in a five-star hotel in Sanya, a town in the Hainan Province in mainland China, has been closed due to illegal gambling.

The bar at the Mangrove Tree Resort World Sanya Bay offered games such as blackjack and baccarat. However, authorities had never actually approved gambling on the mainland. The bar was previously shut down in February 2013 for operating as a cashless underground casino. Nonetheless it had drawn international attention as being the first of its kind and was thought to be a step towards the legalization of gambling on the mainland.

Last week the city government once against stopped operations at the resort as well as at two other sites following an inspection.

According to the publicity office of the provincial Party committee, police have detained people in relation to the case and further investigation is taking place.

The bar is denying allegations, a media officer from the Antaeus Group, the company behind the resort, said, “We know that gambling is forbidden in China, so what we have in the resort is just a bar with drinks and other entertainment”.

Since the beginning of this year Chinese police have detained more than 5,300 people for gambling related crimes.