Gambling, a practice that has been banned in Mainland China for almost 60 years, will perhaps be legalized. From AP, via International Herald Tribune:
Organized gambling on horse races may return to China next year for the first time since the ruling Communist Party seized power in 1949, the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday.
The central government has approved regular horse racing in the central city of Wuhan in Hubei province, and is considering allowing gambling on the races in 2009 on a trial basis, Xinhua said.
It is illegal to gamble in mainland China. The communists deemed gambling a major vice along with opium when they came to power, and made a priority of eliminating them. [Full text]
See also a Beijing Newspeak post on the making of the Xinhua article on this topic.
[Image: Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong, where betting on horse races is legal. By David Wilmot, via Flickr.]
