Will you be sentenced for doing foreign business abroad?

A few days ago, a follower privately messaged me, asking if working in gambling development abroad would subject them to China's long-arm jurisdiction. So, I spent two days during my spare moments thoroughly reviewing the relevant laws and cases. The legal provisions are too numerous and complicated to post directly, so let's discuss this in simpler terms.

**Territoriality and Nationality**

The principle of territoriality is easy to understand: if a person or an object (system, server, etc.) is in China, any compliance is considered illegal. For example, if you operate "foreign betting" within the country, even without being reported, as long as the activity is within the territory, it is inevitably illegal.

The principle of nationality means that even if you are abroad, if what you do is considered a crime punishable by more than three years in Chinese law, you can be arrested. Crimes punishable by less than three years are generally not pursued. For example, if you operate a POGO targeting China from the Philippines, corresponding to the crime of "operating a gambling house" in China, which is punishable by up to five years, you can definitely be held accountable.

**Legality of Foreign Platforms**

In legal logic, operations and money flows are considered "principal offenders," while development and other services are often seen as "accomplices." Theoretically, if the principal offense is legal locally, then there is no accomplice. However, if the foreign platform is illegal locally, whether you work for it from within China or abroad, you might be considered an "accomplice in operating a gambling house" or "aiding a crime."

However, these are all theoretical.

**Legal Interest: The Most Ambiguous and Dangerous Aspect**

Legal interest refers to the interests protected by law. If a platform does not target the Chinese market at all and does not allow Chinese people to bet, then there is no issue of "infringing Chinese legal interests." Theoretically, you are not breaking the law.

But here's the problem: "Whether it infringes legal interests" is not for you to decide, but for them.

In reality, almost no foreign platform can completely isolate Chinese users. Once there's an issue, even if you're just doing development work on the platform, you might still fall into the "accomplice" category for "providing technical support for gambling."

**Several Real Cases**

In a case in Cambodia, the prosecution found that a Chinese tourist had merely browsed the platform's website. Although no bets were placed, the platform was ultimately deemed to have not effectively blocked Chinese access, and the main programmer was sentenced to six years.

In a 2021 cross-border case supervised by the Ministry of Public Security, although the platform claimed to only serve foreign users and had blocked Chinese IPs, the court still ruled that the platform allowed Chinese people to gamble because traffic logs showed 0.01% of visits from Chinese IPs.

Even if you have no Chinese interface, no Chinese payment options, and complete IP blocking, it's impossible to prevent someone from using a VPN to take a look. This "just taking a look counts as infringing legal interests" logic has appeared in multiple cases.

**Conclusion**

If you are in China:

Operating an illegal foreign platform violates Chinese law;

Operating a legal foreign platform theoretically does not violate the law, but many cases still violate Chinese law due to the forced logic of "infringing Chinese legal interests."

If you are abroad:

Operating an illegal foreign platform violates both foreign and Chinese law;

Operating a legal foreign platform theoretically does not violate the law, but many cases still violate Chinese law due to the forced logic of "infringing Chinese legal interests."

Did you waste your time learning this?

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