TWO people accused of using the popular WeChat hongbao, or red packet payment service, to organize gambling have been arrested by Jing’an District prosecutors for running a gambling den.

The social media platform launched its hongbao service ahead of the Chinese Spring Festival in 2014 to “digitalize” the tradition of giving red envelopes filled with lucky money. Online red packets soon became very popular. But some people are using its feature of “random distribution” to organize gambling.

In this case, a man surnamed Meng and his girlfriend surnamed Hu, were found to have illegally profited 50,000 yuan (US$7,265) from last August to February, prosecutors said.

The pair arranged several “games.” In one, Meng first sent an envelope to the group, and the one who received the least was required to send another envelope with the same amount as the original stake doled out, starting a new round.

As the organizer, Meng was immune from “punishment” when he lost the game, prosecutors said. Meng and Hu were arrested on February 17.