Gambling in China

According to the Associated Press, organized gambling on horse races has returned to mainland China for the first time since the ruling Communist Party seized power in 1949. This is occurring in the central city of Wuhan in Hubei province. The Communist Party made gambling illegal because they thought that it was a major vice and no citizen should not have vices, but only dedication to the state. However, gambling is very popular off the mainland in Hong Kong and in special economic zones such as Macau. I think you can interpret this as a continuation of China's movement towards a capitalist economy. New types of markets that are created because of economic development are a by product and this is something that China will have to deal with because this is a consequence of development. It will be interesting to see how China deals with these non-traditional markets that will develop out of the expansion economically.