More on China

PA Sport published news yesterday about the scale of illegal football gambling in China, saying it has been estimated at an incredible US$14.6 billion. Meanwhile, the Chinese Super League season, which normally begins in mid-March, could apparently be delayed after the arrest of around 20 top officials in the ongoing match-fixing scandal. (Unfortunately, I only get PA Sport on a subscription, and I can't find a live web link to it.) Aside from the implications of this which I have commented on before , for me, the most extraordinary thing about it was that a meeting of the Beijing Lawyers' Association, "lawyers and insiders" concluded that "current laws are not tough enough to prevent soccer gambling, which is categorised as ordinary gambling"; and they called for laws to be strengthened! Given that the Chinese have proved themselves not frightened to jail people involved in gambling , this reads to me as "Prohibition doesn't work (even in the most authoritarian major jurisdiction in the world); let's strengthen prohibition." It also rather puts into context the likelihood of 'stick' methods of controlling gambling being successful in Europe .