The other side

Today, Ren, his wife and young son and daughter live in a rental apartment in Beijing's northern suburb of Huilongguan. He and his wife are unemployed and are surviving on the limited proceeds from the sale of the restaurant.

Sorry gamblers and their families still seek out Ren for advice and help.

A man in Tianjin called Ren at five in the morning last Friday. He told Ren that he had swallowed sleeping pills and was ready to die. He wanted Ren to tell his story as a warning to other gamblers.

"He owed 2 million yuan and some loan sharks had just paid him a visit," said Ren.

Ren called Tianjin police who were able to save the man.

Ren has heard thousands of tales of broken dreams and broken hearts.

"A woman told me how her gambler husband tried to force her into prostitution," said Ren.

Ren said that about 100,000 people have contacted him over the past five years but he has only been able to offer outreach to about half of them.

"As far as I know, more than 40 of them have committed suicide," said Ren.

A Global Times investigation showed that getting into gambling is as easy as opening the classified pages of some Chinese newspapers or searching the Internet.

Anyone can open up an account, make a deposit and start losing it in no time.

Most illegal gambling operations have no bet ceiling and even provide credit to gamblers, allowing them to play first, pay later.

Getting into the business of online gambling is also as easy as making a few click and a few phone calls.

A man named Ma, who said he was a regonal representative for 888Crown.com, offered to rent this reporter a gambling website for 1,000 to 5,000 yuan per month.

Ma offered even more lucrative ways to join his company by becoming a bookie.

"For example, for every 100,000 yuan you get in bets, I will give you 1,000 yuan in commission," said Ma, who is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

The bookies split the profits or share the loss 80-20 said Ma, adding that his company takes the smaller percentage.

"You pay a 20 percent deposit, give us your name, address, and two bank accounts: one for the commissions and the other for us to wire you the money should you lose the bet."

"Depending on how much deposit you give us you can get 100,000 or 1 million yuan in daily transactions," Ma told a Global Times reporter who pretended to be a potential customer.

The more gamblers you get, the more you'll earn, said Ma. "Between the commission and the bets, you can earn tens of thousands a day, easy."