China Betting Payment Methods

Is online betting legal in China?

No. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, in the guide to cross-border gambling published by its Guangdong branch in October 2020, puts it in three sentences: cross-border gambling is still gambling and is illegal; opening an online casino and taking part in gambling are both illegal; and moving gambling money across the border is illegal in whatever form. The guide quotes the two laws. Article 303 of the Criminal Law punishes whoever, for profit, gathers people to gamble or makes gambling a business with up to three years’ imprisonment, criminal detention or control, plus a fine. Article 70 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, as the guide quotes it, punishes whoever provides the conditions for gambling for profit, or takes part in gambling with large stakes, with up to five days’ detention or a fine of up to 500 yuan, and in serious cases with 10 to 15 days and 500 to 3,000 yuan. No authority licenses betting on the mainland and no bookmaker holds a mainland licence.

The money is where the enforcement happens. The People’s Bank of China lists “illicit fund-raising, cross-border gambling and underground banks” together as the illegal financial activities it contained in its Financial Stability Report 2021, and SAFE describes how the funds travel: through underground banks and illegal payment platforms, and increasingly through “virtual accounts” opened at third-party payment companies. The foreign-exchange rules bite on the bettor directly. Buying foreign currency outside the licensed banks is an offence under Article 45 of the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations, fined at up to 30% of the amount and more in serious cases; a notice of violation cases that SAFE posted in April 2024 lists ten individuals fined between 1.059 and 4.033 million yuan for exchanging USD 2.06 to 7.83 million through underground banks, and in its gambling guide a man who exchanged USD 2.086 million for overseas gambling between December 2017 and February 2018 was fined 1.356 million yuan. In every case the penalty is entered in the central bank’s credit reporting system.

Hong Kong and Macau are separate jurisdictions with their own laws and are not covered by this page. In Hong Kong the Hong Kong Jockey Club, founded in 1884, runs the authorised betting and returned HK$39.3 billion to the community in 2025/26, HK$29.3 billion of it in taxes to the Government; in Macau the casinos answer to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. On the mainland no tax rule on betting winnings is published for the obvious reason, and the official tax pages could not be read for this article.

Which payment methods work from China

Of the 28 bookmakers open to China, 22 list Visa, 22 Mastercard, 21 Bitcoin, 20 Neteller, 19 Ethereum, 17 Skrill, 13 Paysafecard, 11 MiFinity, 10 Payz, 9 Google Pay, 7 Apple Pay, 7 Jeton, 7 USDT and 2 JCB. Not one lists UnionPay, Alipay or WeChat Pay, the three methods the country pays with. The published rules:

• UnionPay. The scheme’s own card-using tips state that “all UnionPay cards are prohibited from making direct or indirect payment at gaming merchants”, and for cards issued on the mainland every overseas payment is billed in yuan and cash abroad is capped at 10,000 yuan a day within an annual ceiling set by SAFE. That rule, not the cashier, is why the logo is in none of the 28 cashiers.
• Visa and Mastercard. A mainland-issued dual-logo card may run on either network, and UnionPay’s FAQ says the payment page decides. Neither scheme publishes a China rule; the law above applies to the holder whatever the network, and SAFE’s advice is to lend no card and no account to anyone.
• Alipay and WeChat Pay. Their user agreements load only through scripts and are not quoted here. What the authorities publish is that “virtual accounts” at third-party payment companies have become a channel for illicit flows and that payment QR codes must not be lent or sold, and in June 2021 the People’s Bank of China called Alipay and the big banks in to cut the payment channels for virtual-currency trading. Sticpay lists Alipay and WeChat Pay deposits into its own wallet at 1.5% and UnionPay at 5%; three of the 28 bookmakers take Sticpay.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay. China mainland is on Apple’s list of countries that support Apple Pay; China is not on Google’s list for Google Pay online, so the 9 cashiers that show Google Pay have nothing to offer a mainland Android phone.
• E-wallets. Payz has China in the country list of its fee page; MiFinity and Jeton do not exclude China; Paysafecard is sold in 48 countries and China is not one; China is not among the countries whose residents can open a personal Revolut account. Loading any of them from the mainland means a card or transfer in yuan converted abroad, or foreign currency bought within the personal quota, and SAFE warns against splitting purchases or borrowing others’ quotas.
• Crypto. Twenty-one sites take Bitcoin and seven USDT. The notice of the People’s Bank of China and nine other authorities of 15 September 2021 states that virtual currencies cannot circulate as money and that exchange, trading and related services are illegal financial activities, including those offered by overseas exchanges to residents in China.
• PayPal. Two sites list it. PayPal admits betting only with its approval and only where it is legal for operator and customer, which excludes the mainland.

Local payment methods

China’s own rails are three, and none of the 28 bookmakers lists any of them.

• UnionPay. The national card scheme, set up in March 2002 with the approval of the People’s Bank of China, accepted in 183 countries and regions and issued in 81. Its business regulations bar every UnionPay card from gaming merchants, directly or indirectly; the details, with the limits on mainland cards abroad, are on the UnionPay page.
• Alipay and WeChat Pay. The two wallets of everyday life, run by Ant Group and Tencent’s Tenpay. Their agreements could not be read for this article; the regulators’ published position is that payment accounts and QR codes used for gambling money are the “virtual accounts” they hunt, and that renting, lending or selling one is itself an offence. The only international wallet that publishes a price for loading from them is Sticpay, 1.5% for either, with withdrawals to a mainland bank at 2.5% plus 30 yuan.

JCB cards are accepted at selected mainland merchants through the alliance with UnionPay that began with an acquiring agreement in 2003, and two of the 28 cashiers show the JCB logo; a mainland JCB card is still a UnionPay-network card for the purpose of the gaming rule.

How to deposit and withdraw from China

The published facts, for a reader who wants to know what the authorities and the providers say rather than a route:

• Currency. 9 of the 28 bookmakers offer a yuan account; the others hold dollars or euros. A mainland card is billed in yuan by the issuer, UnionPay’s cards by rule; foreign currency for anything else comes only from licensed banks, within the personal quota.
• Identity. Every bookmaker verifies ID and address before paying out. SAFE’s safety tips say the rest: never rent, lend, sell or buy a bank account, a card, a payment account or a QR code, and never open one in someone else’s name, because that is how gambling money is moved and how the people who move it are caught.
• What the bank stops. UnionPay refuses gaming merchants outright; the central bank monitors suspicious gambling transactions on the payment channels; SAFE fines illegal currency purchases at up to 30% of the amount and records the penalty in the credit system.
• Crypto. Since 15 September 2021 virtual-currency exchange and trading services are illegal financial activities on the mainland, overseas exchanges serving residents included. Twenty-one of the 28 sites take Bitcoin; the coins are no less traceable than a bank transfer when the exchange is asked.
• Hong Kong and Macau. Different laws, different regulators: a Hong Kong card, a Hong Kong Payz account or an Apple Pay wallet set up there follows Hong Kong’s rules, not the mainland’s, and this page does not describe them.
• Tax. No tax on betting winnings is published for the mainland; the published consequence of a gambling payment is the fine and the criminal record above.