At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Public Security deployed public security organs across the country to further crack down on illegal gambling activities, demanding that we should fight early, fight small, and fight constantly.
However, in some areas, driven by high profits, some lawless elements secretly gamble on their own under the guise of game machines. Due to the lack of sufficient discrimination against gambling, many game participants unconsciously fall into it.
So, as an ordinary consumer, how to distinguish between gambling machines and game machines? What are the social hazards of gambling game halls hidden in back streets and alleys? Recently, a reporter from the Legal Daily conducted an interview.
□ Our reporter Zhan Haifeng
Our correspondent Jia Weimin
Recently, in the corner of the garbage power plant in Fuling District, Chongqing, under the witness of dozens of people, more than 140 "game machines" were smashed and smashed.
These seemingly ordinary game machines actually have gambling functions similar to those of various gambling machines such as "turning machines" and "slot machines".
Carry out a full chain attack on gambling crimes
At about 3: 00 pm on June 5, less than an hour after receiving the report from the masses, Fuling police thundered and investigated a den suspected of using gambling game machines to carry out illegal and criminal activities in a back street and alley in the jurisdiction, arrested 8 gambling participants, provided 3 gambling conditions, confiscated 8 gambling machines, and gambled more than 1,000 yuan. The police imposed public security penalties on those involved in the case according to law.
Fuling District, located in the middle of Chongqing, has jurisdiction over 27 towns and streets, and is a typical mountainous county. With the help of the special geographical environment, the practitioners of gambling game machines are lucky enough to deal with the public security organs, showing the characteristics of employees breaking up into parts to escape the blow and gambling places of gambling game machines being scattered and hidden. Fuling police found in their work that the illegal activities of gambling game machines are low in cost and considerable in income, and many offenders still take risks despite being arrested many times.
The police realized that if they want to eradicate the gambling game machine soil, they must give a full chain blow to the gambling "interest chain" — — From the producers and sellers of gambling game machines to those who provide gambling venues for gambling game machine operators, employees and "gamblers", we must dig deep into the source, crack down on it according to law, and pursue it to the end.
In a case announced by Fuling police, Qiu Mou, a criminal suspect suspected of opening a casino, Chen Mou, who sells machines, Mei Mou, a waiter in charge of collecting fees and distributing points for "guests" in the casino, and Qin Mou, a gambler, were all dealt with by the police according to law. Afterwards, the police also dug up a den for refitting and producing gambling machines, and destroyed a gambling machine manufacturer, sales system and gambling gang in one fell swoop, completely destroying a gambling machine industry chain.
After the gambling machine was destroyed on the same day, Wang Duo, deputy detachment leader of Public Security Detachment of Fuling District Public Security Bureau, told reporters that this move strongly conveyed the firm determination of the police to eradicate the cancer of gambling game machines.
By playing early and playing small, the spread of gambling game machines was quickly curbed, and the motivation of the masses to report was also enhanced. According to statistics, more than 80% of the illegal and criminal activities of gambling game machines investigated and dealt with by Fuling police were reported by the masses, and more than 95% of them were investigated and dealt with shortly after the opening of casinos.
Tampering with machine programs or committing fraud.
What is the essential difference between gambling game machines and ordinary entertainment game machines? What crimes may be involved in opening a casino with a gambling machine for profit? The reporter interviewed Fuling police and experts and scholars in criminal law for this purpose.
When it comes to the identification object and principle, Wang Duo said that electronic game machines set in entertainment places for others’ entertainment are the identification objects of gambling game machines. There are three principles for identification: the electronic game machines allowed to enter the market in the Catalogue of Market Access Models for Game Amusement Machines by the Ministry of Culture, and the electronic game machine "Zhongfu Online" allowed to gamble are generally not identified as "having gambling function"; Electronic game machines that have not been admitted by the cultural department or have been included in the Guidance Catalogue of Electronic Game Machines with Gambling Function by the public security department are generally recognized as "having gambling function"; Access models or "Zhongfu Online" electronic game machines are used by units or individuals for gambling or gambling operations to realize gambling, and are recognized as "having gambling function".
For gambling crimes involving slot machines and fishing machines, in 2014, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Casinos with Gambling Machines (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which stipulates that if it is difficult to determine whether it is a gambling machine, the judicial organ may entrust the public security organ at or above the prefecture level to issue an inspection report; The judicial organ shall make a determination according to the inspection report and the specific circumstances of the case; When necessary, the people’s court may notify the inspectors to appear in court to explain. At the same time, Article 1 of the Opinions stipulates that setting up electronic game facilities and equipment with gambling functions such as returning coins, points and steel balls, and taking valuables such as cash and securities as prizes, or giving others valuables such as cash and securities to organize gambling activities in the form of repurchasing prizes, shall be deemed as "opening a casino" as stipulated in the second paragraph of Article 303 of the Criminal Law.
Ding Shengming, an associate professor of criminal law at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, believes that game machines and gambling machines are not exclusive, and gambling machines are conceptually a kind of game machines. As for the question of which game machines constitute gambling machines, referring to the normative documents in some areas, it can be generally considered that game machines that meet one of the following conditions should be regarded as gambling machines: those with the functions of withdrawing points, gaining points and adding points; Having the function of returning money, or having the functions of recharging, rebate, rebate, etc. with the same nature as returning money; Having the function of withdrawing steel balls; Having the function of selecting odds and making big bets with small odds.
Ding Shengming said that according to the Opinions and the relevant provisions of China’s Public Security Administration Punishment Law, the act of setting up game equipment such as slot machines and fishing machines belongs to the act of "opening a casino". If the circumstances are minor, it can be punished according to the Public Security Administration Punishment Law. If the circumstances are serious, it constitutes the crime of opening a casino.
Gong Jie, a teacher of chongqing technology and business university Law School, believes that the criminalization of gambling in China’s criminal law is not a one-size-fits-all model, but selective, and not all types of gambling are completely criminalized, which can be confirmed from the legislative provisions. Specifically, China’s criminal law only stipulates that gambling in groups or gambling as a profession for the purpose of making profits constitutes a gambling crime. In addition, it is stipulated that opening a casino constitutes the crime of opening a casino.
"It can be said that the criminal legislation of gambling crimes in China mainly targets the organizers of gambling activities, gamblers who open casinos and people who gamble." Gong Jie said.
In addition, Ding Shengming introduced that although the current normative documents identify the crimes related to setting up slot machines and fishing machines as the crime of opening casinos, in fact, the relevant criminals have basically tampered with the procedures of these machines and can artificially set the winning rate. Criminals often set the winning rate to be very high at first, so that guests can taste the sweetness and invest more chips, and then gradually increase the difficulty and reduce the winning rate, thus obtaining high profits.
"Gambling is essentially a random probability event. It is an event that can improve the winning rate through skills, but it cannot be manipulated. From this point of view, setting up slot machines and fishing machines that have tampered with the program is more in line with the characteristics of fraud. " Ding Sheng said.
The complexity of gambling machine identification affects law enforcement
Talking about the harm of gambling to individuals and society, Lin Mao, a lecturer of Jiangnan University Law School who studies sociology of law, believes that from the perspective of micro-individual development, gambling is a manifestation of individual’s deviation from self and social understanding. Gambling machine addicts, mainly young people, pin their lives on virtual games and try to realize the value of life through the profit of virtual games, which seriously damages individual mental health. The obstacle of interaction between individuals and real people in real life caused by online virtual interaction has become a common problem in the era of Internet machines. In addition, gambling itself destroys people’s willpower, and online gambling machines do endless harm to individuals and society. Gambling machine players are addicted to the game for a long time and ignore the interaction and communication with the people around them in the real world. In the face of the personal safety danger brought by gambling, they lack sufficient self-protection and social and family support, and lose their basic emotional ties. Such individuals are prone to extreme behavior when facing debts caused by gambling, which leads to social problems such as deviance and anomie, and undermines social stability and harmony.
Regarding the problems existing in law enforcement and judicature in cracking down on gambling, Gong Jie believes that the discussion on this issue in relevant theoretical research needs to be further deepened, providing necessary theoretical support for legislation, justice and law enforcement by public security organs. Ding Shengming also admitted that in the current judicial practice, gambling machine criminal gangs often do not adopt centralized delivery, but decentralized delivery and unattended. As a result, it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to investigate and deal with it, and most of them are subject to administrative punishment according to the Public Security Administration Punishment Law. In addition, due to the absence of detailed rules, the identification standards of gambling machines are complex and lack of clear operational standards, which also affects law enforcement activities to some extent.
"Therefore, law enforcement agencies should focus on cracking down on areas with high incidence of gambling machine crimes, especially focusing on destroying criminal gangs behind gambling machines. At the same time, relevant departments should formulate clear and detailed rules, such as stipulating the identification standards of gambling machines through normative documents, so that the law enforcement activities of law enforcement agencies can be based on evidence. " Ding Shengming said.
In this regard, Gong Jie also has similar views. He said that joint law enforcement should be organized to strengthen comprehensive management. The departments of industry and commerce, culture and public security should take the form of joint law enforcement, organize special inspections of gambling places where gambling machines may exist, such as game halls, teahouses and street shops, and intensify inspections. Investigate and deal with unlicensed operations, illegal operations, placing gambling machines, etc. in strict accordance with the law, focusing on investigating and dealing with possible darkrooms in game rooms and gambling game machines that may have switching functions.
In addition, Ding Shengming also suggested that relevant departments should strengthen legal education, so that ordinary people can realize the nature and harm of gambling machines, and realize that gambling machines are not ordinary game machines but a gambling trap, thus cutting off the breeding ground of gambling machine crimes at the root of consumption.
