Ok i take the above for granted. So since a "commited" gambler must find a workaround to bypass the "blocked by the censors" sites , it definetely means that those sites are not considered legit for the chinese players, by the chinese government. Also if a gambler needs to gamble privately in private rooms and apartments,or he needs to be "introduced to some guy," or he must plan "gambling sessions" through Whatsapp, then im pretty sure that he can not do otherwise , meaning that he can not do it free and open -> meaning he cannot do it publicly -> meaning its not accepted by the governments rules -> so we can call it "regulated and not legal",thus we can call it illegal .
Fair to say nothing is 'legit' in China, least of all the government. Remember, the Chinese Communist Party came to power by stealing land and property from the ruling class. The CCP continues to loot the country to this day. Many ordinary Chinese understand this; in many ways they are just people like you and me. A couple more examples:
Particularly near the ubiquitous construction sites: in the evenings and holidays/weekends you will find construction workers playing 3-card poker openly on the sidewalks. I never saw police harass them, but the players do not want their pictures taken.
High stakes mahjong gambling is insane in some parts of the country. Cities in Sichuan shut down on the weekends so that everyone can play mahjong for money: they play openly in 'tea houses' that plainly exist to facilitate mahjong gambling, and bigger stakes are played, again, in private apartments run by individuals and syndicates.
For example, I met a woman who regularly lost US$10-30k each weekend playing mahjong. (Her family owned a brokerage, and she was an executive/principal).But she explained to me that she lost the money to her friends, who needed it more than her, so she saw it as a way to support her friends.
Gambling is rampant in China. Most gambling is live. The online gambling is heavily concentrated on sketchy, Chinese-only websites that a westerner would have difficulty finding.