\nBy Adam Minter, Bloomberg View<\/p>\n
\tPity the parents of Xiao Cai, a young woman from Wuxi, China, who lost the equivalent of $161 betting on World Cup matches. When her folks refused to cover the losses, she fled to Shanghai and \u2014 pretending to be a kidnapper \u2014 sent them a note claiming that she\u2019d be prostituted if they didn\u2019t pay a ransom equal to $3,200 (presumably, to be bet on Germany). The police weren\u2019t fooled. With little effort, according to local press accounts, they found Xiao at a friend\u2019s house, watching the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\tXiao\u2019s story is extreme, but in China at least, not all that shocking. Gambling is a national pastime; many sports are just an excuse to place more bets. Since early June, it\u2019s been almost impossible to have a conversation with a Chinese World Cup fan without hearing about the bets he or she has placed, and the money lost or gained. The trend is especially pronounced on social media where, thanks to legal gambling apps, the casual fan can toggle between talking about bets, and then betting, with the slide of a thumb. According to China\u2019s state-run lottery regulator (China\u2019s lotteries also run legal sports books), after only the first two weeks of games, legal Chinese bets on the World Cup totaled $642 million, or near double the total bets made in 2010.<\/p>\n
\tAnd that\u2019s just the legal gaming. As any visitor to China can attest, card games seem to be available on every street corner (or in apartment buildings, such as mine, where the elevator doors regularly opened to random games during the years I lived there). So \u2014 if one cares to ask \u2014 are sports books. The smartphone has taken activities that were happening anyway and made them virtual \u2013 as well as highly, highly lucrative. In June, China\u2019s state news agency Xinhua estimated that offshore online gaming accounts for as much as $161 billion in capital flight annually (equal to roughly 2 percent of GDP), calling it \u201ca serious threat to national economic security.\u201d During a World Cup year, that number is likely even larger. The Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, overseer of the semi-autonomous Chinese gambling mecca across the border from Guangdong Province, reported that revenue fell 3.7 percent in June \u2014 its first decline since 2009. The cause? Punters placing their bets on World Cup matches rather than the roulette wheel<\/p>\n
\tThere are winners and losers in this virtual national casino, but it\u2019s the losers who seem to garner the most attention. For example, early last week state media reportedthat middle school students in Tianjin had discovered online gaming, and spotlighted one college student who\u2019d lost more than $1,500 by betting on World Cup matches. He lived to tell the tale at least \u2014 unlike a student in Guangdong who jumped to his death after running up $3,000 in betting losses early in the tournament. The tragedy engendered a brief moment of national reflection \u2014 and then the betting resumed.<\/p>\n
\tThese days, gambling-related suicide jokes are all the rage in China. Spain and Portugal eliminated? \u201cThe roof is crowded,\u201d tweeted one snappy Sina Weibo microblogger, using a punch line that\u2019s become a sort of catch-all summation for any and all World Cup upsets. If that\u2019s too rough, there\u2019s always the approach taken by a screenwriter in Anhui Province, who tweeted after a hard loss: \u201cGoodbye world! My last message to you is enjoy football without gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tOf course, World Cup humor doesn\u2019t all have to be morbid. On Tuesday one IT manager offered his version of a joke that has been floating around China\u2019s Internet for a while now: \u201cA friend of mine became a millionaire off soccer gambling! When I ran to ask him how he did it, he said he used to be a billionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThis week, as the World Cup wraps up, and gamblers count their losses (and occasional gains), there likely won\u2019t be much if any reflection as to whether or not all of this betting is good or bad for China, much less its ability to enjoy the World Cup. China\u2019s homegrown Super League resumes play late this week, ensuring that the country\u2019s energized gamblers will have a seamless transition into localized bets. Business guarantees to be good.<\/p>\n
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