KUNMING, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- A crackdown on gambling by Chinese citizens is putting the squeeze on foreign casinos around China's northern borders.

    "In the first five months alone, 102 foreign casinos near the Chinese border have closed for lack of business. The remaining casinos are finding it hard to continue operating conditions," an official with China's Ministry of Public Security said here Thursday at a conference on overseas gambling activities.

    He said the ministry has taken a range of measures including seriously punishing participants, closing the agencies of foreign casinos in China and busting underground "banks" that aid overseas gambling activities.

    The ministry has cracked some major cases, he said. In one of the them, Cai Haowen, the head of the Transport Administration of Yanbian Prefecture in Jilin province, was found to have embezzled a huge amount of public funds to feed his gambling habit.

    "We have closed 30 agencies for overseas casinos and 19 underground banks so far this year," he said.

    Due to the sustained crackdown efforts, he acknowledged, the problem of Chinese participation in gambling activities have been brought under "effective control". Enditem