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Forbes in June wrote:
A new “Liberal Market Zone”

While police have cracked down on gambling at one end of the law, legislators are expected to lighten up at the other.

The latest Five Year Plan, a regular announcement of intent for forthcoming policies from China’s national government most recently released in 2016, includes accelerated growth and innovation in China’s sports lottery. And this year, the government announced plans to transform the touristy island province of Hainan into a horse racing and sports lottery hub. While horse racing is allowed in some areas of China, betting is currently illegal. If all goes to plan, Hainan will one day compete with the $33 billion casino industry in Macao, which remains the world’s largest gambling center and the main destination of mainland Chinese looking to bet.

SANYA, CHINA - APRIL 28: Guo Guangchang, Chairman of Fosun International,attends the Grand Opening of Atlantis Sanya on April 28, 2018 in Sanya, China. (Photo by Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images for Atlantis,The Palm)

Several companies have taken note of the expected shift. In 2016, China Vanguard You Champion Holdings, a lottery technology supplier, signed an agreement to provide the technology and marketing for the Hainan Sports Lottery Administration Center, through which much of the government‘s expansion funding will run. China Vanguard has also recently inked a five-year agreement with Hainan Huan Yu Assets Investment Company.

One huge indicator of the upcoming switch will be the status of a now three-year-old ban on online lottery sales, which came in March 2015 after a fraud scandal. Beijing suspended online sales when it came out that provincial lottery administrators had misused $2.8 billion in lottery funds. Even at its onset, the ban was characterized as "temporary" and the 2016 Five Year Plan, and its nod to the sports lottery, pushed hope for a release of the suspension. But it didn’t happen.

Now, China Vanguard’s new agreements shows expectations for the three-year-old suspension to soon lift. It seems a safe bet, but it's definitely still a gamble.