For young people with gambling in their blood, Tai-Xiu online (Over-Under, or O/U) is one of the best known games. The app allows players to bet the desired amount of money in one of two boxes – Tai (over) and Xiu (under) to win or lose the bet.

Under the rules of the game, the system rolls three dices and if the total points of the three dices are over 10, this is Tai and if the total points are under 10, this is Xiu.

Appearing in a variety of forms, from websites to apps, U/O is one of the betting games with the best ability to approach players.

If searching for ‘Tai-Xiu’ on Facebook, one can see hundreds of groups with of thousands or hundreds of thousands of members for each group. To lure players, the groups even post livestream videos that give instructions on how to play and give gifts to live viewers.

The accounts used for the sharing of the videos are virtual and there is no personal information there.

The apps are advertised on many forums and social networks such as Facebook and YouTube with numerous attractive offers.

With increasingly high density, betting games and websites attract players, especially youth between the ages of 15 and 23, who use social networks the most.

Tragedies

With the ambition to have a new life, N.C.K., 17, from Vinh Phuc province threw himself into online gambling with initial capital of VND20 million. The transaction floor that K chose was ‘Tai-Xiu online’.

“It’s easy to make money this way. The rules of the game are very simple, while the winning rate is high. I just play for fun, and I am not an addict,” K said.

If gamblers are lucky, players can earn up to tens of millions of dong after one night, and if not, they may lose the same amount overnight.

However, gamblers all want to earn amounts of money 10 times or 100 times higher than the initial capital. The more they lose, the more they want to continue to gamble to regain the money lost. Black credit funds are suppliers of money for gamblers.

Like many other gamblers, after losing a big amount of money, K decided to borrow money from black credit funds as a last resort. However, after two months of gambling, K lost all of the money and owed VND100 million.

P.D.T. from Tien Hai district of Thai Binh, a first-year university student, is also an online gambler. He has squandered money on gambling and now owes VND50 million.

After spending the money his parents gave monthly to fund his study for ‘Tai-Xiu online’, the young man doesn’t have enough money to cover basic needs. He has had to work as a taxi motorbike driver.

Tai-Xiu online game is illegal gambling 

Lawyer Uoc An from Dai An Phat Law Firm said Tai-Xiu online is a disguised gambling game.

Vietnam doesn’t have a specific law or regulation stipulating fines on juvenile online gamblers. Therefore, juvenile online gamers will be punished in accordance with the 2015 Penal Code, which says that people aged 16 and over have to take criminal responsibility for gambling as shown in Article 321 of the law.

A person who illegally gambles in money or kind with a value of between VND5 million and VND50 million, or gambles with a value of below VND5 million (but has received an administrative fine) will be subject to a fine of VND20-100 million, probation for up to 3 years, or imprisonment for 6 months to 3 years. 

If the money or kind with value of VND50 million or more is used in the internet, computer network, telecommunication networks or electronic means to commit crimes, and offences at serious level are repeated, the sanction could be 3-7-years in prison.  

Also according to An, distributing Tai-Xiu online game means creating conditions for other people to gamble. Distributors must be responsible before the law for organizing gambling. They are subject to a fine of VND50-300 million, or 1-5 year imprisonment. 

Minh Toan