As many of you already are aware of, gambling is forbidden in mainland China and the only casinos with permits to operate are located in Macau.
Oodles of Chinese nationals used to visit Macau, but the number of visitors has dropped drastically since stricter regulations were introduced in mid-2014. The new rules have, for example, made it more difficult to bring back money won in Macau to mainland China.
The new gambling laws has also lead to an increase in underground casinos in China. In 2014, 23-year-old Internet celebrity Guo Meimei allegedly opened an illegal casino. In order to stay off the radar of the Chinese authorities, only a very selective clientele were allowed to gamble at the casino.
However, it didn't take long until information on the illegal activities reached the authorities; the police raided the casino and arrested Guo Meimei. According to CNN, Guo Meimei may now face up to 10 year in jail for repeatedly organising illegal gambling activities.
Meimei, who has over 2 million followers on Weibo, first gained notoriety in 2011 when she was rumoured to be the commercial general manager for the Chinese Red Cross and posed in pictures with expensive cars and designer bags.
Although the Red Cross denied any connection with Guo, the rumours lead to a big drop in donations the following year.
