[Legal Opinion]
No, gambling money is not protected by law and will be confiscated if recovered. In gambling crimes, money and goods used as wagers, money and goods exchanged for chips, and money and goods gained through gambling belong to gambling money. Where a gambling crime is committed through a computer network, the amount of gambling money may be determined by multiplying the points bet or won on the computer network by the amount actually represented by each point.? Gambling funds shall be recovered in accordance with the law. Gambling equipment, illegal gambling income, and funds, means of transportation, communications, etc. owned by gambling criminals and used exclusively for gambling shall be confiscated in accordance with the law.
[Legal Basis]
Article 70 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Penalties for Public Security, for the purpose of making profits, provides conditions for gambling, or participates in gambling with a relatively large amount of money, shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days, and shall also be fined not less than 500 yuan but not more than 3000 yuan. Article 303 of the Criminal Law [Crime of Gambling, Crime of Opening Casino] Whoever gathers people to gamble or engages in gambling for the purpose of making profits shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance and shall also be fined. Whoever opens a casino shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years and shall also be fined. Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Gambling
Article 1 For the purpose of making profits, a person who has one of the following circumstances shall be classified as "gathering people to gamble" as stipulated in Article 303 of the Criminal Law:
（1） Organize more than 3 people to gamble, and the total amount of profits from tapping has reached more than 5000 yuan;
（2） Organize more than 3 people to gamble, and the accumulated amount of gambling funds reaches more than 50000 yuan;
（3） Organize more than 3 people to gamble, and the number of participants accumulatively reaches more than 20;
（4） Organizing more than 10 citizens of the People's Republic of China to gamble abroad and collecting kickbacks and referral fees from them.
