Attorney Shao Shiwei | Frequent Gambling-Related Cases on Voice Chat Platforms: How to Effectively Mitigate Legal Risks?

A voice chat platform is an internet-based social service that allows users to engage in real-time communication and interaction through voice. It supports one-on-one or multi-user voice chat rooms, where users can share information about their interests, hobbies, status, and activities.

Common revenue models for voice chat platforms can be categorized as follows:

• Purchase of Virtual Items (Tipping): Users can purchase virtual items, such as gifts and flowers, to tip their favorite streamers. This is one of the primary revenue sources for voice live-streaming platforms, which rely heavily on high-spending “big R” users. Generally, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) in voice chat rooms can exceed RMB 1,000.

• Game Joint Operations or Self-Operation: Some voice live-streaming platforms also generate revenue through jointly operated or self-operated games. Users play games on the platform, and the platform earns revenue through revenue sharing or in-game purchases.

• Probability-Based Games: Mechanisms similar to “loot boxes” or “prize crates,” where users pay cash or consume cash-exchanged game currency to obtain items/characters from a “pool,” aiming to enhance performance.

• Value-Added Services: Platforms may also provide value-added services, such as virtual gifts and games, to increase users’ willingness to pay. This model can generate additional revenue for the platform.

Below, we will analyze common gambling-related scenarios on voice chat platforms in conjunction with the aforementioned revenue models.

Classified by subject, gambling involvement on voice chat platforms may stem from the platform itself, streamers, or silver merchants (third-party traders).

1. Reasons Attributable to the Platform Itself

Probability-based mini-games are common on platforms, such as “Smashing Golden Eggs,” “Big Wheel,” and “Opening Boxes.” These gameplay mechanics exploit players’ gambling psychology, encouraging continuous consumption and thereby generating higher revenues for the platform. While such gameplay is not prohibited per se, it can be easily exploited by bad actors, turning platform features into tools for others to operate casinos.

For example, in 2021, the Meishan Public Security Bureau published a case:“Internet Celebrity” Streamer Facilitates Gambling, Involving Funds of RMB 300 Million—Liao Mou used the platform’s prize-draw mini-games to organize “fans,” established rooms within the platform, and colluded with her boyfriend Xu Mou (a streamer) to organize “fans” to use the legitimate platform’s prize-draw mini-games to covertly establish rooms and attract users to participate in gambling. The case involved gambling transaction flows exceeding RMB 300 million, with over 2,000 gamblers nationwide.

In this case, the normal prize-draw games on the platform were used by the involved streamers to organize gambling activities. In practice, if a platform is used by some streamers as a gambling tool, whether the platform bears liability depends on whether the platform’s risk prevention mechanisms are robust and whether the platform had “subjective knowledge” of the streamers’ gambling activities. In the article “Streamer Convicted of Operating a Casino: Under What Circumstances Does the Platform Also Bear Liability?,” Attorney Shao also noted that the platform’s level of participation, whether the platform assisted in the reverse conversion of game currency, and whether the platform profited therefrom are concrete manifestations of the platform’s “subjective knowledge” regarding streamers’ gambling involvement.

2. Reasons Attributable to Platform Streamers

A common scenario involving streamers in gambling is where streamers guide users to participate in games and send tips through live-room lucky draws, and then provide cash rebates to users either through the platform or via private contacts. After all, for most streamers, revenue derived solely from voluntary user tips is not substantial. However, this method creates a closed loop from money to money: users recharge on the platform → use the recharged props to play games and send gifts → the streamer converts the props used for gaming and gifting back into cash for the users.

For example, the DouYu streamer “San San Jiu Outdoor,” who was previously sentenced to six years in prison by the Dujiangyan City Court, engaged in similar practices (for details, see ➡️ “Gambling Involvement in Online Live-Streaming Activities: Do Streamers, Live-Streaming Guilds, and Live-Streaming Platforms Suspect of the Crime of Operating a Casino? What Are the Key Points for Criminal Defense?》）

3. SilverMerchant Reasons

Legitimate voice chat platforms prohibit streamers from providing cash rebates to users within the platform. Furthermore, for probability-based mini-games, platforms do not offer cash-out functions. However, this does not preclude the possibility that platforms cooperate with external silver merchants, who then purchase in-platform props from users, thereby completing the closed loop of fund flows.

In such circumstances, there is no dispute that silver merchants constitute the crime of operating a casino. Whether the voice chat platform constitutes joint crime in operating a casino depends on the platform’s degree of subjective knowledge regarding the silver merchants’ repurchase of props. In practice, if there is evidence proving that relevant persons in charge of the platform were aware of the silver merchants’ repurchase of props but failed to take any risk control measures to stop it, the platform likewise constitutes the crime of operating a casino.

Thus, it can be seen that the commonality among the above scenarios is that probability-based game mechanics are the primary reason for the existence of gambling risks on platforms.

However, probability-based gameplay is not inherently wrongful. The key issue lies in whether, under the premise of probability-based gameplay, the platform directly or indirectly (by tolerating streamers or external silver merchants) assists users in the reverse conversion of funds.

During their operations, voice live-streaming platforms must adopt a series of measures to prevent and combat illegal activities such as gambling, ensuring criminal compliance. We offer the following recommendations:

• Strengthen Content Review and Control: Platforms need to establish strict content review mechanisms, including automated preliminary screening, manual re-review, and daily inspections, to ensure the compliance of platform content. Meanwhile, platforms should regularly report content compliance status to regulatory authorities.

• Design Compliant Probability-Based Gameplay: If platforms implement probability-based gameplay, they must ensure that such features are positioned as entertainment services, preventing users from cashing out virtual property obtained through winnings and avoiding the emergence of gamblers. Platforms should publicly disclose lucky draw rules, including gameplay mechanics, winning probabilities, and draw prices, and maintain the fairness and stability of these rules.

• Sever Gambling Fund Chains: Platforms should implement sufficient risk control measures. Upon detecting signs of gambling-related activities, they should take stringent enforcement actions, such as account bans and withdrawal prohibitions, to demonstrate the platform’s negative stance toward private transactions between users and streamers.

• Implement Regulatory Responsibilities: Platform supervisory personnel must diligently fulfill their statutory obligations, actively monitor live-stream broadcasts, establish external oversight mechanisms, and promptly handle gambling-related reports. Meanwhile, they should regularly inspect streamers’ withdrawal transaction flows and proactively investigate and verify any obviously abnormal withdrawals.

• Reinforce Legal Liability of Streamers and Users: Platforms should clearly define the legal liabilities of streamers and users, prohibiting engagement in illegal and irregular activities, such as organizing gambling or disguised gambling, whether online or offline.

With the rapid development of voice chat platforms, the gambling-related risks they bring cannot be ignored. Platforms must take effective measures to strengthen legal risk prevention, ensuring business compliance and sustainable development.

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