By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-02 10:18:11 | Updated at 2025-04-03 10:05:31
23 hours ago
Hong Kong authorities have launched a public consultation on the legalisation of basketball betting, with any future operator to be disallowed from organising bets on local matches to protect the health of the sport in the city.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the city’s sole legal betting operator, estimated that illegal basketball betting came up to HK$90 billion (US$11.6 billion) last year, as the government launched a consultation scheme to legalise such bets and grant a licence to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
“The government will adopt a pragmatic approach by allowing only a limited number of authorised gambling outlets,” a Home and Youth Affairs Bureau spokesman said.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po unveiled plans to legalise basketball betting in his budget speech in February, saying legal basketball betting could add HK$2 billion to government coffers.
The government said the public consultation, which would last a month and end on May 2, would take into consideration an earlier proposal by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the sole legal betting operator in the city, as well as views from the Betting and Lotteries Commission.
The proposed regulatory regime for basketball betting would be similar to the one for football betting, with every licence to be issued with a fixed duration, while the government would have powers to impose restrictions on the types of bets and classes of competitions allowed.
