The investigation into the APPT Nanjing Millions poker tournament, which was shut down by the Chinese National Police following an early morning raid in April, has gained momentum with two representatives of local organizer Star Poker Club formerly arrested on suspicion of casino crimes.
Jian Yang and Li Su are accused of opening a gambling house and submitting false application materials to Jiangsu Provincial Chess Sports Association in the lead-up to the event, which had attracted a huge field of around 2,300 entrants before police shut it down early on the morning of April 17. They could face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of opening a gambling house.
2013 Asia Player of the Year Jian Yang has been arrested by Nanjing police
The bigger question now is what this means for the tournament’s co-organizers – the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) and its parent company PokerStars – with the Nanjing Gulou District Procuratorate confirming the case is still under further investigation.
The APPT had a number of staff present at the Jiangsu Wutaishan Sports Centre, where the Nanjing Millions was held, including APPT President and the face of PokerStars’ Live Poker room at City of Dreams in Macau and Manila, Danny McDonagh, who has since returned to Macau.
WGM has approached PokerStars on a number of occasions for comment since we first broke the news that police had shut the event down, but after initially promising to get back to us and asking us to delay a follow-up story (which we agreed to) they have gone silent, refusing to return calls or reply to emails. They did, however, ensure key staff across the globe were briefed on the official company line, with every single PokerStars person we spoke to immediately spruiking that “the APPT was only a sponsor of the event” – in many cases before we even asked a question.
Jian’s arrest will put that claim to the test.
The APPT Nanjing Millions was shut down by police in April
A well-known figure in the Asian poker community, Jian made headlines in 2013 when he was named PokerStars Asia Player of the Year (APOY) after a series of strong tournament results including victory in both the ACOP Platinum Series main event and the ACOP HK$25,000 warm-up. His prize included a one-year sponsorship with PokerStars Macau for all championship events in Asia through 2014.
Yet it was his role as Principal of Beijing’s Star Poker Club that opened the door for a more intimate relationship with the APPT and in July last year, Star Poker Club hosted the largest tournament ever held outside the United States with 2,732 players taking part in the PokerStars.net Beijing Millions.
There would be no police raid on that occasion, but comments made by Jian at the time seem particularly telling in hindsight given PokerStars’ defence that “the APPT was only a sponsor” of the APPT Nanjing Millions.
In a press release sent out, ironically, by PokerStars itself immediately after the Beijing Millions, Jian said, “I’m so happy to run such a successful event in Beijing and have the support of APPT and the event organizers from the Beijing Sports and Administration Centre.
“APPT is a professional event management group capable of running major international poker tournaments and together we created a miracle with the Beijing Millions.
“I hope the cooperation between APPT and Star Poker will strengthen and develop poker further in China.”
The charges against Jian and Li include one of submitting false application materials to Jiangsu Provincial Chess Sports Association.
At the heart of this charge against Jian and Li is the agreement they signed with Jiangsu Provincial Chess Sports Association. Operating as Beijing He Si Cheng Sports Culture Communication Co Ltd, it is claimed that when the agreement was signed, Jian and Li registered the event as the “2015 China Jiangsu Poker Tournament (and GSPT Texas Hold’em Intelligence Competition)”. However, when the tournament started the name had been changed to show “2015 China Jiangsu Poker Tournament (and APPT CHINA Nanjing)”.
WGM has learned from sources familiar with the investigation that a false submission such as this which avoided using the term “APPT” – a name already synonymous with poker – would be an effective means of avoiding the numerous approval procedures that would have been required had full details been disclosed. This is especially so given the arguments some make about the subtle distinctions between poker and gambling would likely fall on deaf ears in mainland China. It is contended the duo knew they were no chance of gaining approval from all the required levels of government, given China’s rigid anti-gambling laws, should the name “APPT” appear on the application.
The APPT Nanjing Millions was subsequently promoted as being sanctioned by the Jiangsu Provincial Chess Sports Association but the Association claims they were lied to by the organizers, accusing them of hiding information, cheating and fraudulent conduct.
The matter has been considered serious enough for China’s state-run national broadcaster, CCTV, to run a long format investigative report on its well-respected “Focus Report” TV show. According to the investigative report, had the APPT name been presented in the original application, it would have gone to the Provincial Sports Bureau who would then forward it to the State Administration of Sports for approval who in turn would send it to the Provincial Foreign Affairs Department to approve as well. Even then, the event would not have been sanctioned by the Chinese Central Government or its main agencies.
In 1997 Chinese Criminal Law made stipulations on opening gambling houses or gathering a crowd of more than 20 people for gambling. Such activity is to be punished by a fixed-term imprisonment up to three years, criminal detention or public surveillance while the punishment for opening gambling houses can be extended up to 10 years if the circumstances are deemed serious.
The CCTV “Focus Report” explained that for activity to be considered gambling, just ONE of the following three criteria must be satisfied:
- The activity is for the purpose of profit, and that is at least RMB 5,000
- The total amount gambled was at least RMB 50,000
- The number of people involved was more than 20
Given the Nanjing Millions had 2,359 entrants each paying RMB3,000 – of which 10 percent comprised the registration fee – the “gambling amount” totalled more than RMB 6.3 million with the profit for organizers RMB 707,700. This certainly looks like illegal gambling activity by all three definitions.
What remains to be seen from here is what role Chinese authorities deem the APPT to have played in the organization and running of the Nanjing Millions.
Neither the Nanjing authorities or PokerStars are speaking about the matter just yet but it seems there could still be plenty of noise made in the coming months.
