In a recent statement about illegal gambling, Beijing People’s Prosecutors Office reported that 35% of the gambling convictions issued are for online gambling, indicating a rapid expansion in the Internet gambling industry.

Internet gambling is attractive because it is less costly than traditional casino gambling, harder to detect and track, and convenient to play. Most online gambling here involves betting on soccer games, although the gambling cases brought to court have included traditional gambling games such as card games. As of this year, there have been 17 gambling cases with 56 people involved in those cases charged for online gambling crimes.

Last year, a man was arrested by the Yangpu District Prosecutor’s Office for organizing online soccer betting. He had established a local agency for a Taiwan-based gambling company, which ran the Baoyong Website, and raked in 140,000 in profit.

Another online gambling case involved the arrest and conviction of Feng Zaisheng, a Taiwan native and leader of an online gambling gang. The Shanghai Number 1 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Feng Zaisheng to 2 ½ years in jail. Zaisheng was the first person to be convicted of such a crime in the city.

According to Zhu Bochen, a spokesman for the People’s Prosecutor’s Office, Internet gambling appeals to many gamblers because it has no time or space limitations and profits are higher at online gambling casinos than are profits from conventional casinos.