New clauses should be added to the present Criminal Law to prevent gambling from corrupting government officials even more, said an article on www.21dnn.com, a major Beijing-based news portal. An excerpt follows:

The number of cadres who get involved in major gambling cases is mounting. The unwritten rules state that lower-ranking officials lose to their superiors and company bosses lose to government officials.

The game is actually a metaphor for bribing and bribe-taking. Both the winner and the loser get what they want - money and power - while the losses are carried by the grass roots.

There have been more and more cases recently of cadres who say they are simply playing innocent games but are really guilty of bribery in another form.

There have been some punishments handed out to cadres involved in this gambling, but the effects have not been obvious.

This is because the expected gain far outweighs the risk.

Even once they are caught playing these games, the worst they can lose is their official title - they remain civil servants after that.

Cadres seem to feel that gambling risks are negligible compared with taking bribes. China's Criminal Law clearly states that if the total amount of bribes involved exceeds 5,000 yuan (US$602), the bribe recipient breaks the law. He or she will be deprived of his or her official post in the government and sometimes even punished through the courts. Illegal profit is much safer coming from gambling than from taking bribes.

The public are fully aware that gambling is a guise for cadres who are simply taking bribes, but it is hard to prove when those involved argue gambling is just personal entertainment. There is nothing in the law to cover this practice and China's Criminal Law is thus paralyzed.

It is no longer enough to punish officials for gambling simply with Party disciplinary action or administrative procedure. There must be amendments to the Criminal Law to include gambling under the corruption mantle.

(China Daily November 19, 2004)