{"id":19123,"date":"2021-06-17T14:58:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T14:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19123"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:28:30","slug":"hong-kong-79-arrested-over-illegal-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/hong-kong-79-arrested-over-illegal-gambling","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong: 79 arrested over illegal gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police have arrested 79 people in raids on a pub and an alleged illegal gambling den.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hong Kong.-&nbsp;<strong>Police officers have arrested 79 people<\/strong>&nbsp;after raids on<strong>&nbsp;two alleged illegal casinos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the first raid, in Sai Ying Pun, officers found<strong>&nbsp;people playing around a baccarat table and playing online card games<\/strong>&nbsp;via two large televisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to South China Morning Post,&nbsp;<strong>16 men and 6 women aged 31 to 74 were arrested<\/strong>. Police seized HK$215,000 (US$27,697) in cash, HK$410,000 in chips and five account books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In th<strong>e second raid, police found 21 people\u00a0<\/strong>suspected of playing baccarat at a flat located in Kwun Tong. Officers seized\u00a0HK$70,000 in cash and gambling paraphernalia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those arrested were also<strong>&nbsp;breaking social distancing rules&nbsp;<\/strong>implemented as part of Covid-19 countermeasures, officers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hong Kong penalises <strong>gambling at an illegal den with nine months in jail<\/strong>\u00a0and a HK$30,000 fine. Operators can face a maximum penalty of seven years\u00a0in jail and a HK$5m fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Gambling in Hong Kong is restricted<\/strong>&nbsp;to a few authorised venues. Horse races, football matches, and lotteries are controlled by&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/hk-jockey-club-to-invest-in-horseracing-in-china\">The Hong Kong Jockey Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result, many\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-hong-kong-travel-bubble-could-start-later-in-the-summer\">residents travel to Macau to gamble there<\/a>, making Hong Kong\u00a0one of the key outbound markets for Macau\u2019s gaming industry. It provides 10 to 15 per cent of Macau\u2019s annual casino gross gaming revenue (GGR).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police have arrested 79 people in raids on a pub and an alleged illegal gambling den.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Hong Kong police conducted raids on alleged illegal gambling dens, arresting 79 individuals and seizing over HK$285,000 in cash and HK$410,000 in chips. These operations underscore the persistent challenge of illicit gambling in a highly regulated market, where legal options are limited to entities like The Hong Kong Jockey Club, driving significant outbound GGR to Macau.","focusai_entities":"The Hong Kong Jockey Club","focusai_location":"Hong Kong, Sai Ying Pun, Kwun Tong, Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.8), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Illicit Market Impact","query":"What is the estimated annual GGR leakage from Hong Kong's illicit gambling market, and how does this compare to the legitimate outbound GGR directed towards Macau?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Efficacy","query":"How do these enforcement actions align with Hong Kong's broader regulatory strategy to curb illegal gambling, and what are the long-term implications for market integrity and public safety?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[229],"class_list":["post-19123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19123"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19170,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19123\/revisions\/19170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}