{"id":777013993,"date":"2024-03-15T08:19:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T11:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777013993"},"modified":"2026-04-22T12:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:00:28","slug":"hkjc-interested-in-nba-betting-if-permitted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/hkjc-interested-in-nba-betting-if-permitted","title":{"rendered":"HKJC interested in NBA betting if permitted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The chief executive of the Hong Kong Jockey Club has expressed an interest in the possibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Hong Kong.- <strong>Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges<\/strong>, chief executive of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), has said that the club would be interested in <strong>incorporating NBA betting into its offerings<\/strong> if the government allows it. In an interview with The Standard, he said such a move could bring many illegal basketball bets to legal channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Engelbrecht-Bresges warned of exponential growth of the illegal betting market in the wake of digitalisation and the advent of cryptocurrency.\u00a0He estimated that\u00a0up to 60 per cent of the approximately 150,000 people engaging in illegal basketball betting could be redirected towards legal avenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said, illegal sports betting in Hong Kong, including horse racing, football, basketball, tennis and esports, is worth approximately HK$350bn (US$45bn) a year, with horse racing and football representing 75 per cent and basketball 15 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Engelbrecht-Bresges noted that\u00a0the HKJC is not yet prepared to introduce NBA betting. He estimated\u00a0that an investment of HK$1.5bn (US$191.7m) to HK$2.5bn (US$319.6m)\u00a0would be required in infrastructure and suggested that legislative approval could take up to one-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In February, the HKJC put forward\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/hkjc-proposes-gambling-expansion-to-tackle-illegal-betting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a proposal to the SAR government<\/a>, advocating for an expansion of its betting operations. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong has advocated for the inclusion of basketball betting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/hkjc-world-pool-turnover-hits-record-us946-6m\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HKJC World Pool turnover hits record US$946.6m<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The chief executive of the Hong Kong Jockey Club has expressed an interest in the possibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) CEO, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, has expressed interest in introducing NBA betting to legal channels, estimating it could redirect up to 60% of illegal basketball bettors and significantly curb the estimated HK$350bn annual illegal market. This expansion would require substantial infrastructure investment of HK$1.5bn-HK$2.5bn and legislative approval, which could take up to 18 months.","focusai_entities":"Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Hong Kong Jockey Club, NBA, The Standard, SAR government, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong","focusai_location":"Hong Kong","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.9), tech_data (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Hurdles?","query":"What specific legislative amendments and regulatory approvals would be required for the HKJC to introduce NBA betting, and what are the primary challenges to securing them within the estimated 18-month timeframe?"},{"label":"Investment ROI?","query":"Given the estimated HK$1.5bn-HK$2.5bn infrastructure investment, what is the projected return on investment and the anticipated timeline for profitability, considering the potential redirection of illegal market share?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338],"tags":[23911,22317,233],"class_list":["post-777013993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-hong-kong-jockey-club","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013993","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=777013993"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777014022,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013993\/revisions\/777014022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777013993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777013993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777013993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}