Regulation of China Lottery Industry: Perspective of Protecting the Vulnerable

Abstract

The current regulation of China lottery industry has been focusing on preventing lottery buyers from cheating, while paying little attention to the negative effects of lottery to the vulnerable such as the minors, the people with lower income. With more people involving in buying lottery, the number of problem gambler has dramatically increased in mainland China in recent years. The government of China should make efforts to reduce incidence of problem gambling by changing the lottery market structure, limiting the supply side of lottery, making stricter and more detailed regulation on lottery advertisement, etc. This paper constitutes with three parts. The first part reviews the measures and actions that the western countries have taken to protect the vulnerable. The second part discusses the insufficiency of Chinese laws and regulations to prevent the vulnerable from being tempted to participate in lottery purchase. The third part makes a few specific proposals to improve the regulation of China lottery industry.