{"id":182948,"date":"2021-08-16T15:50:16","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T22:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/"},"modified":"2021-11-29T13:02:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T21:02:44","slug":"china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"China Bans Karaoke Songs That Reference Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that songs mentioning gambling will be banned at the nation\u2019s 50,000-odd karaoke venues.<\/p>\n

\"Best
Kenny Rogers, pictured, is unlikely to be featured in any Chinese karaoke bars anytime soon. China has banned gambling-themed songs. (Image: Good Morning America)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ministry said it would shortly compile a blacklist of music that will be off-limits to karaoke operators because it contains \u201charmful information\u201d and \u201cillegal content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Along with gambling, this includes songs with lyrics that allegedly inspire listeners to experiment with drugs. Also, a no-no is songs that \u201cendanger national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity,\u201d or which violate state religious policies by propagating cults or superstitions. All the good stuff, basically.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Instead, operators of karaoke venues and their content suppliers will be encouraged to provide \u201chealthy and uplifting\u201d music, according to the ministry. They are also asked to flag problematic lyrics to help government officials compile the blacklist.<\/p>\n

All forms of gambling are illegal in China, except for state-controlled numbers and sports lotteries.<\/p>\n

Cultural Revolution<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Beijing has long been engaged in a war<\/a> against illegal cross-border gambling. The government wants to clamp down on illegal gambling operators that target its citizens, as well as foreign land-based casinos that tempt Chinese nationals to gamble and move money abroad.<\/p>\n

China maintains a vast program of internet censorship, dubbed the \u201cGreat Firewall.\u201d This is designed to limit access to undesirable foreign information sources, as well as sites that host politically sensitive material, gambling, violence, or pornography.<\/p>\n

\n

More recently, Beijing has been tightening regulatory controls<\/a> on China\u2019s ascendant Big Tech industry, as it seeks to reign in the \u201cdisorderly expansion of capital\u201d and ensure the industry remains in the interest of the state. This has resulted in industry net losses of $1 trillion, according to analysts.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But according to the Financial Times<\/em>, the Karaoke crackdown is part of a mini-cultural revolution to replace a post-work, hard-drinking culture with \u201ccorrect values.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, to get the ball rolling, and to assist the dystopian-sounding Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in compiling its blacklist, Casino.org<\/em> presents its top five songs about gambling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

5 Casino Boogie \u2013 Rolling Stones<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Is this song about gambling at all? Who knows? It has cut-and-paste nonsense lyrics set to blissed out, sloppy, shouty blues rock. It may also be the worst track on 1971\u2019s Exile on Main Street<\/em>. But that still means it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

When Jagger sings, \u201cOne last cycle, thrill freak Uncle Sam \/ Pause for business, hope you’ll understand,\u201d he\u2019s surely singing about the Las Vegas gambling experience, albeit in a very oblique, sloppy, shouty way.<\/p>\n

Social and cultural disharmony rating<\/strong>: 8<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 Lawyers Guns and Money <\/strong>\u2013 <\/strong>Warren Zevon<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"
Zevon: Satire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk \/ Send lawyers, guns, and money, Dad, get me out of this,\u201d<\/em> sang the great Warren Zevon.<\/p>\n

He was being satirical about the misadventures of wealthy young Americans abroad, but we\u2019re not sure the politburo in Beijing would see it that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I’m hiding in Honduras, I’m a desperate man,\u201d he continues. \u201cSend lawyers, guns, and money \/ the shit has hit the fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social and cultural disharmony rating:<\/strong> 8<\/p>\n

3 Pokerface \u2013 Ghostface Killah<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Four years before Lady Gaga sang about her \u201cp-p-poker face,\u201d the Wu-Tang Clan\u2019s Ghostface Killah gave us this, a track in which he described his own poker prowess in loving detail. Except Ghostface\u2019s poker strategies were spotty at best.<\/p>\n

Looking at quads, waiting for someone to bluff \/<\/em>
\nSo I checked ’til someone said I had enough<\/em><\/p>\n

Quads! OK, Ghostface, how long have we got? Never slow play your monsters. You need to extract maximum value from those hands, you noob.<\/p>\n

Social and cultural disharmony rating:<\/strong> 7<\/p>\n

2 The Gambler \u2013 Kenny Rogers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Better advice came from Kenny Rogers, whose The Gambler<\/em> has been overplayed to the point of exhaustion, especially when there\u2019s anything vaguely related to gambling on TV. But the song contains simple but vital wisdom for anyone who has ever gambled and whoever will: \u201cYou got to know when to walk away.\u201d Simple as that.<\/p>\n

Social and cultural disharmony rating: 6<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ace of Spades – Mot\u00f6rhead<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Lemmy\"
Lemmy: That’s the way he liked it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou know I’m born to lose, and gambling’s for fools\/But that’s the way I like it, baby,\u201d explains Lemmy from Mot\u00f6rhead in the greatest song about gambling ever.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the way we like it too, Lemmy. But we suspect the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is not so down with it.<\/p>\n

Social and cultural disharmony rating:<\/strong> 10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that songs mentioning gambling will be banned at the nation\u2019s 50,000-odd karaoke venues. The ministry said it would shortly compile a blacklist of music that will be off-limits to karaoke operators because it contains \u201charmful information\u201d and \u201cillegal content.\u201d Along with gambling, this includes songs with lyrics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":182952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina Bans Karaoke Songs That Reference Gambling - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"China\u2019s Ministry of Culture and Tourism to draw up blacklist of banned songs, whate are the best songs about gambling of all time?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China Bans Karaoke Songs That Reference Gambling - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"China\u2019s Ministry of Culture and Tourism to draw up blacklist of banned songs, whate are the best songs about gambling of all time?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-16T22:50:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-29T21:02:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kenny.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"992\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"558\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/\",\"name\":\"China Bans Karaoke Songs That Reference Gambling - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kenny.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-16T22:50:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-29T21:02:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"China\u2019s Ministry of Culture and Tourism to draw up blacklist of banned songs, whate are the best songs about gambling of all time?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/china-bans-karaoke-songs-that-reference-gambling\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kenny.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kenny.jpg\",\"width\":992,\"height\":558,\"caption\":\"Kenny Rogers, pictured, is unlikely to be featured in any Chinese karaoke bars anytime soon. 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