China’s travel blacklist of overseas gambling jurisdictions has grown, although Chinese authorities still refuse to disclose exactly which countries have earned their no-go status.

On Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) announced that its blacklist of ‘cross-border gambling tourist destinations’ was set to grow. The MCT plans to cooperate with ‘relevant departments’ to identify the additional nations that deserve tagging with the new anti-gambling scarlet letter. 

The MCT announced its initial travel blacklist last August but the names of the overseas territories supposedly “endangering the personal and property safety of Chinese citizens” were never made public. Analysts speculated that the initial list included major casino hubs popular with Chinese gamblers such as Australia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam. 

The MCT appears to be deliberately playing coy in order to keep would-be gamblers fearful that their travel may get them in trouble. Mainland Chinese who defy the government in this fashion will face travel restrictions in future, likely through demerits via the country’s infamous ‘social credit’ system, which rewards citizens for behaving in Beijing-approved ways and punishes those who defy Beijing’s edicts.