Chinese Authorities Shut Down PokerStars Sponsored Tournament

In their continued crackdown on gambling, Chinese authorities shut down a poker tournament sponsored by the world’s largest real money online poker site PokerStars this weekend.

The APPT tournament, which was set to take place in the city of Nanjing, underwent a raid by the Chinese National Police on Friday.

World Gaming Magazine, present at the time of the raid, reported:

The Nanjing Millions was being run by the team from PokerStars Macau at City of Dreams. WGM tried contacting several Pokerstars Macau staff, including APPT President Danny McDonagh, who is in Nanjing, without success and there is still no word on what this means for either staff or players involved. At this stage there is no word of any arrests.

However, we’re hearing that the office of the tournament organizers has been seized and surrounded by police. Players in the tournament, who had come from all over China to participate, were also nearby looking for an explanation from the organizers but were told they had disappeared.

Prior to the raid, the Nanjing Millions had been a stunning success with the sheer volume of people wanting to register forcing the APPT to add an extra Day 1 flight – pushing the total number of players to over 2,300.

A sign on the door to the event venue read:

“Due to the APPT Nanjing Millions tournament being suspected of illegal gambling, the police are now investigating and the event is being ceased. All related staff should go and register at the designated location and co-operate with the police for the investigation.”

- Ace King, Gambling911.com