China continues to claim success in combatting gambling operations targeting its citizens at home and abroad, even as other operators rush to fill the void created by arrested rivals.

On Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced the latest statistics in its war on so-called ‘cross-border gambling,’ the definition of which may or may not include Macau casinos, depending on whether or not it involves unauthorized capital outflow.

As of September 30, Chinese authorities claim to have handled over 8,800 cross-border gambling cases and made over 60k arrests – including some 590 Chinese nationals arrested by police in other countries – while shutting down over 1,700 online gambling platforms and 1,400 illegal payment platforms (including so-called underground banks).

The Ministry added that, in cooperation with the Cyberspace Administration of China, it has targeted some 35k internationally licensed online gambling domains and blocked some 73m ‘harmful’ text messages promoting gambling services.