At the stage of collecting opinions on Hong Kong’s budget, a legislator has again suggested the government that should allow Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) to offer basketball betting in order to increase the government’s tax revenue.
The comments, from Ronick Chan, follow a period of discussion last year on whether to liberalize basketball betting in Hong Kong. In the end it was not mentioned in the budget and the matter was not discussed again, however in the new quarterly budget, the issue of basketball betting and wagering has again been raised by some members.
In an interview with Sing Tao Daily, Ronick Chan Chun-ying said that liberalizing basketball betting could not only increase government tax revenue but also reduce illegal bookmaking.
“Instead of banning it, we should manage it,” he said. “There is a lot of illegal gambling on basketball matches such as the NBA and CBA, and it is practically impossible to ban them completely.”
Chan pointed out in the interview that “it would be better to allow the HKJC [to include basketball betting] as a regular betting item, which will bring more than a billion dollars of betting duty revenue for the treasury every year and will also reduce crime”.
Last month, the Hong Kong branch of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) published a proposal on the budget which mentioned that basketball should be included in the scope of betting.
ACCA also pointed out that if the Hong Kong government opens up basketball betting, it would be in line with market trends and would help to expand the tax revenue as well as prevent illegal gambling activities.
Under current Hong Kong law, legal betting activities are restricted to horse racing, football betting, Mark Six and licensed mahjong parlors.
Betting is available in-person, over the telephone and via the HKJC’s online portal.
The (HKJC) was naturally among those last year to push for the addition of basketball betting. In an interview with local media in March 2024, the HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said there were between 100,000 and 150,000 people in Hong Kong betting on basketball via illegal basketball channels, with the amount of money involved estimated at more than HK$50 billion (US$6.4 billion).
Engelbrecht-Bresges noted that if basketball betting was legalized, at least 50% to 60% of those people would switch to betting through the legal market.
However, then Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the Hong Kong Government had no intention to legalize basketball betting because it was not the right direction, would adversely affect young people and increase the number of people participating in betting.
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