The Chinese government on Monday has advised citizens not to leave the country unless necessary, and has also discouraged individuals from traveling overseas for sightseeing or visiting friends. 

In just the first six months of 2023, Chinese authorities detected 16,000 cases of obstructing national border control, with 32,000 suspects arrested. According to China’s National Immigration Administration, this is an effort to restrain people from leaving the country to conduct gambling activities.

China’s National Immigration Administration announced on Thursday that it's going to ease restrictions on package tour visa applications to Macau, with the new policy to come into effect next Monday, May 15th.

Chinese police authorities have solved 6,861 cases related to online gambling during a three-month security enforcement campaign that ran from June 25 to September 30, the Ministry of Public Security announced.

China authorities have issued 42.8 million travel visas to Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in the first half of the year, marking a significant increase of 1,509 percent from last year. The figure has recovered to 96.5 percent of 2019 levels.

Any lingering hope that Macau was exempt from China’s crackdown on its citizens crossing overseas to gamble has now been dashed, with the local government urging operators to look elsewhere for their clientele.

China’s crackdown on frequent gamblers to Macau could wipe as much as 20 percent off total industry gross gambling revenue, Credit Suisse analysts wrote. 

China said it has identified and stopped more than 90,000 people suspected of leaving the country to gamble since 2021 and vowed to continue to step up its campaign.