If the word China is in one of my headlines, you can assume it’s not good news. It’s rare that anything good comes out of that country, though you could argue that their economy is currently more free than in the United States. Still, the U.S. doesn’t have the record of killing people for political dissent, purposely starving millions and controlling every aspect of a person’s life, at least not yet.

It’s no secret that China frowns upon online gambling, probably because it allows people to have control over their own money and spend it in ways they see fit. No, wait, that can’t be the reason. I’m sure they’re doing it for the people’s own good, protecting them from themselves. Authoritarian governments around the world have done unspeakable things in the name of protecting its citizens and doing what is good for them, whether they realize it or not.

Today’s news out of Red China is that two men have been arrested for search engine optimization (SEO). The Chinese government says that the two men worked for Baidu, a Chinese search engine company that basically provides a Chinese alternative to Google, Wikipedia and other sources of information. According to police, those men were paid by 777 Real Casino to work on their website, optimizing their content to make them rank better on the search engine.

According to the Chinese government, doing SEO work for the company amounts to illegally promoting an online casino, an offense that, like everything else in China, carries a prison sentence. In response to the arrests, Baidu stuck up for their employees and stood with them against the evil government.

Just kidding. They cowered like frightened dogs and distanced themselves from the employees, saying they had no knowledge of their activities (which may be true). They also apologized and said that Baidu “has always obeyed our country’s laws and regulations and we strongly oppose the behavior of those who use the Internet to engage in criminal activity.”

As someone who writes blogs about online casinos using SEO, I’m glad I don’t live in China. Of course, I’m also glad I don’t live there because I enjoy eating regularly and having some freedom.

According to Xinhua, China’s government-run news agency, the Chinese government has successfully taken down a major online gambling ring. According to their reports, last month the government broke up a highly organized and sophisticated gambling ring that has gained more than ¥100 billion ($14.8 billion).

Prior to the World Cup, China promised to crack down on illegal online gambling, which they say is a menace to society in the same way that freedom of speech and democracy are. Bets can be placed in three state-run lotteries, but all other gambling is illegal on the mainland. In addition, online gambling of any kind is strictly prohibited.

According to Xinhua, the ringleader of the online gambling ring went by the name of “Dark Brother.” He was supposedly arrested as he left a “cocaine-fuelled nightclub party” in Shenzhen. According to the oppressive communist government, who I find trustworthy and have no reason to doubt, Dark Brother led an organized gambling ring that encompassed southern and eastern China. Another member of the ring, who went by “Old Cat,” helped run the operation from her apartment.

China did not qualify for the World Cup this year, but that didn’t stop the Chinese people from betting lots of money on offshore bookmakers. In total, the Chinese Center for Lottery Studies estimates that more than ¥87 billion is spent on online gambling by Chinese citizens.

Because online gambling is so secretive, it has been hard for the government to stamp out, despite their strict controls over the internet. After the embarrassment of a fraud scandal involving Chinese soccer referees, though, the government has vowed to put an end to online betting. If any country can do it, it would be China, who is better than most at denying basic liberties.

Oh, those crazy Chinese are at it again. We know that the Communist Chinese government isn’t too high on freedom, including a free flow of information or the ability for people to do what they want with their money. Come to think of it, in China it’s not really your money, is it?

Anyway, those zany folk in Beijing have stated that there will be a crackdown on what they call “overseas hostile forces.” Of course, in China, you are seen as being a hostile force if you are anything other than the Chinese government, which means that everything overseas is automatically hostile.

In Red China, there is actually a department in the government called the Information Office. It is that office that controls what information the people are given and is responsible for telling the people what they want to be known and hiding what they don’t want to be known. So, in that way it’s a lot like Obama’s relationship with the New York Times.

Anyway, Wang Chen (no, I didn’t make up that name) is the chief of the Information Office and he released a statement saying that China “will strengthen the blocking for harmful information from outside China to prevent harmful information from being disseminated in China and withstand online penetration by overseas hostile forces.”

Allow me to translate that from propaganda to English. When China says “harmful information,” what they mean is any information that doesn’t match the official information released by the Information Office. For example, information about freedom, democracy, protests, ownership, property, and human rights would be considered “harmful” information that needs to be kept from the people. Such information is currently being blocked from the Internet in China, but there are always ways around that censorship, which is why they need to crack down.

How this relates to online gambling is that in China’s mainland, gambling is illegal. That includes online gambling. However, there are many online casinos from overseas that currently accept Chinese customers. Online gambling is another thing that is considered harmful by the Chinese government, because it is a way for the Chinese citizens to spend money on something that is not provided by the government.

In response to this statement, many online casinos that were accepting bets from Chinese customers have stopped. Some have delayed deposits and withdrawals from China. Some online casinos have warned Chinese customers that the government may be monitoring their transactions.

So for any Chinese online gamblers, I’m sorry to say that you may soon be out of options for casinos. Of course, I’m also sorry to say that you live in China, don’t have freedom, and may soon be arrested and taken to a secret prison for the “crime” of reading this article.

Just so we’re clear, here’s a list of things that China does and doesn’t like. This is not a comprehensive list.

Chinese government likes: communism, controlling all aspects of the lives of its citizens, manufacturing products and selling them to America, running over protesters with tanks, executing political adversaries and starving millions of people to death.

Chinese government dislikes: freedom, democracy, truth, Google, privacy, religion, public gatherings, private property, self-sufficiency and online gambling.

Online gamblers and casino operators, watch out. China is coming after you. On the official website of the Ministry of Public Security, the government stated that they will “concentrate on investigating major and important cases of online gambling, knock out domestic and foreign groups that organize online gambling, and severely punish the criminal elements.”

If you’re involved in gambling in any way that relates to China and that statement doesn’t scare you, then you must not know much about the country. The Chinese government has a way of crushing all opposition and when they say phrases like “severely punish,” they mean it. This is the country that responds to protests by running over the protestors with tanks. It’s the country that controlled a population that wasn’t particularly keen on Communism by starving millions of people to death. Mao may be long gone and China may be seen as much kinder and gentler than in Mao’s day, but that’s only because anything would seem kinder and gentler in comparison.

Traditional gambling was banned in China after the Communist takeover in 1949 because the government didn’t want people to have control over their own money. If you could make and spend your own money, you are less reliant on the government. China, of course, continues to allow a state-run lottery, as is often the case in countries that ban gambling. In the absence of a legal way to gamble within Chinese borders, internet gambling has become more popular. In light of that development, China intends to go after those who gamble online as well as the financial institutions used and the online casinos who operate the games.

A fight for control of the internet is nothing new. When Google brought their popular search engine to the country, it was with the stipulation that the government controlled what information could be accessed. It has long been the policy of China, and all Communist governments for that matter, to control the flow of information, because that is the easiest way to crush an uprising.

When last year’s protests of a disputed election in Iran were publicized thanks to social networking sites like Twitter, China took note. China currently blocks the use of Twitter, Flickr, Youtube and Facebook. After Google accused the Chinese government of hacking into their Gmail service to retrieve information on human rights activists, it is likely that Google has seen the end of its days in China as well.

If you live in China, I doubt you have the ability to read this page. If you are in any way involved with online gambling in China, though, heed their warning. When China says someone will be punished, they mean business.