Everything came to an abrupt end on April 17, 2023. At around 2 p.m. that day, 25 executives and employees of Chang Xiangban Company were detained by Shunde police on suspicion of opening a casino.
Wang Ye told Nandu that another group of employees were taken away for investigation in June last year. In addition to the seven employees who have been prosecuted, more than a dozen are on bail pending trial, while the rest have been released – including a cashier who had just started working at the company for five days.
In this wave of criminal crackdowns by public security organs on gambling-related issues in the voice live broadcast industry, the "Banban" gambling case was one of the earlier cases. According to incomplete statistics from the Kenting Law Firm, from March 2023 to February 2024, more than 50 voice chat products of different sizes were arrested by public security organs on suspicion of opening a casino.
Public information shows that in terms of jurisdiction, the series of cases involving gambling on voice chat platforms have the characteristics of cross-provincial case handling. For example, the Wuhan "Banban" case was handled by Guangdong police, the Guangzhou "Huanhuan Voice" case was handled by Zhejiang police, and the Guangzhou "Oxygen Voice" case was handled by Hubei police.
Before the incident, a large number of complaints about gambling and fraud against voice live streaming platforms such as "Banban" had emerged on the Internet. According to data from Sina's Black Cat complaint platform, since February 2021, there have been as many as 459 complaints about the "Banban" platform.
Behind the complaints, the mobile voice social market is growing rapidly. According to data cited in the IPO prospectus of a leading voice chat product company, the scale of China's mobile voice social network market reached RMB 25.2 billion in 2022, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.7%, reaching RMB 52.2 billion in 2027. The total number of mobile voice social network users has increased from 69.5 million in 2018 to 158.8 million in 2022, and is expected to further increase to 262.2 million in 2027.
Lin Mingkai (pseudonym) has been working in the operation position of "Banban" for more than 4 years. He told Nandu reporters that compared with video chat live broadcast, voice chat has many comparative advantages. The premise of video live broadcast is to be equipped with a camera. The anchor must sit in an environment suitable for live broadcast, stare at the screen at all times, and maintain a good state. In many cases, users cannot talk to the anchor and can only post barrages on the public screen. But the voice chat platform is an interactive field. The anchor can spend more than ten hours a day chatting with users online, and users can also talk to the anchor at any time. "This experience is definitely much more comfortable than in the (video) live broadcast room."
The voice live broadcast industry chain is jointly built by the platform, the guild and the anchor. The platform often does not directly recruit anchors, but cooperates with the guild, and the guild acts as the anchor's MCN agency. Wang Ye made an analogy: "The platform is equivalent to a shopping mall mico recharge , the guild is the merchant settled in the mall, and opened a bunch of stores (i.e. voice rooms), and the anchor is the shopping guide in these stores, providing performances in these voice rooms."
The platform will formulate a profit distribution mechanism. Wang Ye introduced that the withdrawal mode of the "Banban" platform is divided into three categories: one is that after the anchor receives rewards from users, the virtual currency income goes into the guild's account, and the guild issues an invoice to the platform for settlement, and finally the guild shares it with the anchor; in another case, the anchor applies to the guild for the income from the reward to be directly settled into the anchor's personal account. If the guild agrees, the platform will transfer the cash to the account agreed by the guild and designated by the anchor; in the third case, the anchor and the guild agree and set it up by themselves, how much of the reward received by the anchor goes into the guild account, and how much is transferred to the anchor's account, and the platform does not interfere with this agreement.
Lin Mingkai revealed that the withdrawal settlement cycle is generally carried out on a weekly basis, and the daily turnover of a voice room with good profits can reach tens of thousands of yuan.
In addition, users' rewards in different voice chat scenarios will lead to differences in the settlement share ratio. Wang Ye said that if the anchor wants to get the largest proportion of cash withdrawal share, he can only live broadcast in the voice room organized by the guild; if the user rewards the anchor in the anchor's private live broadcast room, the anchor can get 70% of the share, but these shares can only exist in the form of platform virtual currency, which can be used for consumption within the platform , and cannot be withdrawn; if the user rewards in private messages, the anchor can get about 50% of the platform virtual currency that can be withdrawn and 30% of the platform virtual currency that cannot be withdrawn.
According to Wang Ye's explanation, the difference in the profit-sharing ratio is related to two considerations: platform risk control and content ecosystem construction. The platform and the guild signed a contract that stipulates the basic rights and obligations of both parties, requiring the guild to perform management duties in the voice room. Only under the inspection, supervision and organizational management of the guild can the anchor obtain the greatest benefits. If the anchor does not go through the voice room operated by the guild, only the platform can supervise it at this time, and supervision is more difficult. In addition, once the anchor can obtain the same or higher withdrawal ratio by bypassing the voice room operated by the guild, the guild will not operate its voice room carefully and recruit anchors to perform.
The battle between prize promotion and gambling
Lin Mingkai remembers that during his work at Banban, the company sought out a number of well-known domestic law firms to conduct comprehensive risk assessments, and "risk control briefings at all-staff meetings were basically very frequent." Training sessions were held every quarter, and lawyers would explain what compliance matters should be paid attention to during the operation process, such as strictly prohibiting cash rebates and buying and selling gifts.
"From the surface, so many lawyers are making compliance plans for us. Employees will feel that the company has done a good job in risk control. In addition, the company's risk control investment is large enough, so employees will think that (the way of playing the game) is very safe." Lin Mingkai said that other platforms also have similar probabilistic blind box games, and employees did not think that there were any violations before.
The core of probabilistic gameplay is that the output is uncertain, and there is a possibility of making a small profit with a big investment. "Uncertainty brings greater pleasure to users." Lin Mingkai said that from a purely probabilistic perspective, "I still don't feel there is any original sin."
What really connects the probabilistic gameplay and gambling is the cashback process. If users bet with cash, they can get cashback with a small investment, which completes the closed loop of the gambling chain. Previously, a lawyer told Nandu reporters that most platforms do not allow anchors to give cashback to users within the platform, but it often happens on third-party platforms such as WeChat.
The two games that dragged Banban into the gambling vortex were called "Star Opening" and "Miner Activities" by the prosecutors. Wang Ye said that Banban called the "Star Opening" by the prosecutors "Lucky Star Activities" internally. After users purchased a specific avatar frame for promotion, they received a lucky coupon from the platform. They used the lucky coupon to open the "Lucky Star" and received different virtual gifts and props according to the publicized winning probability and put them into the "backpack". The virtual gifts can be used to reward the anchor. Users can also give the lucky coupons to the anchor. During the gifting process, the lucky coupons will automatically open the "Lucky Star" and give virtual gifts according to the winning probability. The anchor will directly receive the virtual gifts.
According to Wang Ye's description, the official description of the "miner activity" is "magic miner". After users purchase a specific homepage decoration for promotion, they will receive a pickaxe from the platform. They will use the pickaxe to "mine" and receive different virtual gifts into their "backpack" according to the publicized winning probability. Deng Huilin (pseudonym), a former employee of a company affiliated with Chang Xiangban, told Nandu reporters that the probability of receiving a high-value gift is very low.
Wang Ye said that the chance to win a lottery cannot be purchased with cash or platform coins, but is given away after purchasing promotional products, and the chance of winning a lucky ticket and a pickaxe is 100%. Winners cannot withdraw cash, and can only use the prizes on the platform to dress themselves up or give to others. Therefore, Wang Ye argued that the two game modes of the "Banban" platform are prize-winning promotions, and the core difference from the probabilistic game modes that meet the gambling situation is that users do not place bets, but obtain free lottery opportunities based on their consumption behavior, etc., and "users' bets are zero."
Before the storm of regulation in the voice live broadcast industry came, Wang Ye said that "Banban" only understood the behavior of anchors and guilds giving private cash back to users as unfair competition, similar to Taobao order brushing. The platform prohibits this kind of cash back to avoid bad money driving out good money. The cash back behavior makes the chat room look very popular. After entering, other users find that the service quality of the chat room is not high, which may cause them to feel deceived and leave the platform. If the platform finds cash back behavior, the first time is a short-term ban of 7 days, the second time is 30 days, and the third time is a permanent ban. If gambling is found, the first time is a permanent ban.
The prosecutors in this case believe that users recharge to get the chance to win the lottery, and then use the probabilistic gameplay implanted in the platform to win big with a small investment, and then give the virtual gifts they get to the anchor. After the anchor withdraws the money, he returns it to the user through a third-party platform, completing the closed loop of the gambling chain. The platform plays a dominant role in this cash-out industry chain and is accused of constituting the crime of opening a casino. According to the provisions of the Criminal Law on the crime of opening a casino, if the circumstances are serious, the offender may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years.
It is understood that the second trial of the "Banban" case will be held from May 7 to 17.
Previously, some “Banban” users stated on the Black Cat Complaint Platform that some anchors induced me to participate in the “Lucky Star Event” and “tricked me into giving them stars to complete tasks in the name of love.”
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