Chinese leader accepts fair odds — like this gangster (7)
I believe the answer is:
mafioso
'gangster' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'chinese leader accepts fair odds like this' is the wordplay.
'chinese leader' becomes 'Mao' (Chairman Mao).
'accepts' indicates putting letters inside.
'fair odds' becomes 'fi' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'like this' becomes 'so' ('like so').
'mao' enclosing 'fi' is 'mafio'.
'mafio'+'so'='MAFIOSO'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mafioso that I've seen before include "Sicilian gangster" , "Italian gangster" , "Family man" , "Member of a Sicilian mob" , "One of the mob" .)