World Cup bets on police radar

• Source: Global Times
• [10:26 June 29 2010]
• Comments

Flirting with fun, however, is exactly the kind of light-hearted approach to gambling that football fans should be wary of, according to Zhou Miao, a law-yer from Shanghai Junyue Law Firm.

"We see cases like this all the time - all the people who end up becoming big gamblers started by betting just small amounts of money," he told the Global Times Monday. "Places of work should prohibit their employees from gambling."

Zhou added that while the law fails to specify what amount of money comprises a profit when it comes to gambling, different cases have different circumstances. Still, cases that involve only a small amount of money will likely have a punishment that is within reason, he said.

There are, however, a couple of legal options for fans who simply cannot enjoy the thrills and spills of a game without involving money - an addiction perhaps rooted in Chinese culture as seen with the traditional game of mahjong in which players commonly raise the stakes over hours of play.

For just a few yuan, residents can participate in China's sports lotteries specially designed for the World Cup, Scoring Lottery and Win-or-lose Lottery, which allow winners the chance to walk away with millions of yuan.

Meanwhile, some companies have started initiatives to cash in on football fans by starting their own World Cup lotteries. Japanese carmaker Mazda, for example, is awarding customers with discounts of up to 30,000 yuan ($4,477) for correctly predicting the outcomes of games.