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recently, momo was once again embroiled in controversy over its "blind box lottery" activity. according to feedback from many users, they spent thousands to tens of thousands of yuan to participate in the lottery, but after winning high-value gifts, they were denied cash withdrawals due to system errors, and the lottery winnings were revoked. the funds were not fully returned, and only the platform's virtual currency was returned. a lawyer said that momo's behavior may involve the crime of opening a casino.

the incident was caused by many consumers complaining that they were induced to invest thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan in the "gift collection master" lucky draw recently launched by momo. after winning a gift worth more than the principal, momo refused to honor the prize or refund the money, and only returned the momo coins, which caused strong dissatisfaction among consumers.

user wang reported to the media that he participated in the momo lucky draw in early september 2024. at first, wang spent 358.2 yuan to draw a blind box and won a gift worth 1,610 yuan. it is reported that about 650 yuan can be withdrawn by swiping the backstage with friends.

because his income was greater than his expenditure, wang continued to invest nearly 5,000 yuan and obtained the right to withdraw cash worth tens of thousands of yuan. however, in mid-september, momo confiscated his gift income due to a system error and only returned about 80% of his momo coins.

there are many users who have the same experience as wang, some of whom spent hundreds of yuan, some tens of thousands of yuan, but all face the problem of "difficulty in cashing out" the gifts they won in the lottery. some media have found that there are many blind box lottery games on the momo platform, and the anchor can withdraw the virtual gift income commission after receiving the gifts.

this behavior is obviously contrary to the regulations of the "guidelines for blind box business conduct (trial)" issued by the state administration for market regulation. blind box operators shall not make false propaganda, deceive or mislead consumers, and shall perform obligations such as returns, replacements, and repairs in accordance with the law.

from a legal perspective, this momo blind box lottery event is suspected of gambling. a lawyer pointed out that if the gifts can be exchanged for cash, it would constitute the crime of opening a casino if the cash service is provided through online games.

in this case, players purchased blind boxes by recharging cash, thus forming an open betting behavior. the gifts in the blind boxes constitute a probabilistic gameplay, and players can obtain cashable rights after transferring the gifts. to a certain extent, this situation presents a pattern of "open betting-probabilistic gameplay-chip cashing", which is consistent with the constituent elements of the crime of opening a casino.

in fact, this is not the first time momo has been involved in such controversy.

two years ago, the media revealed that momo used a lottery entrance called "spacetime gate" to guide users to recharge momo coins for the lottery. after winning the prize, they could exchange it for the corresponding cash through a middleman called "arms dealer" and cash it out through wechat or alipay. according to media reports, someone lost 3.3 million in a month in a similar activity on momo.

coincidentally, douyu platform also organized illegal gambling activities in the form of lottery guessing, and douyu ceo chen shaojie was arrested by chengdu police on november 16, 2023 on suspicion of opening a casino. comparing the lottery forms of momo and douyu, both have certain inducement and gambling risks.

since 2020, zhiwen group's revenue growth has continued to decline, and its net profit growth has continued to decline. under this situation, momo, as a core profit-making unit, has been under tremendous revenue pressure, which may be the main reason why it chooses to continue to walk on the edge of the law.