{"id":777025167,"date":"2025-04-11T03:01:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T06:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777025167"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:58:00","slug":"122-arrested-in-hong-kong-for-alleged-illegal-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/122-arrested-in-hong-kong-for-alleged-illegal-gambling","title":{"rendered":"122 arrested in Hong Kong for alleged illegal gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Police seized gambling paraphernalia, liquor and other illegal items worth over HK$500,000 (US$64,000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Hong Kong.- Police in Hong Kong <\/strong>have arrested\u00a0122 people<\/strong> aged between 14 and 67 for\u00a0alleged involvement in illegal gambling in Yuen Long. Those arrested include alleged core members of triad societies. Police said a series of raids was carried out after a two-week operation. They said they seized illegal items worth over HK$500,000 (US$64,000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those arrested have been charged with offences including operating illegal gambling establishments, drug trafficking, running unlicensed bars and money laundering. According to officers, the illegal gambling venues were disguised as industrial buildings and “three-nil” buildings. The premises were equipped with CCTV cameras and, in some cases, soundproofing. Entry was restricted to regular customers or those referred by trusted sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consultation launched on proposed legalisation of basketball betting in Hong Kong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The government of Hong Kong has launched a consultation on the proposal submitted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) to regulate basketball betting<\/a>. The proposed framework would be modelled on existing football betting regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amendments to the Betting Duty Ordinance (Cap. 108) <\/strong>would be introduced to grant the secretary for home and youth affairs the authority to issue a licence for basketball betting to the HKJC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key conditions of the proposed framework include a fixed duration for the licence period, restrictions on the types of bets and classes of competitions allowed and a prohibition on betting on matches involving Hong Kong teams or taking place in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bets would not be allowed on credit, and licensed operators would have to display notices about excessive gambling and support services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the HKJC\u2019s estimates, the turnover of illegal basketball betting reached around HK$70bn (US$9bn) to HK$90bn (US$11.6bn) last year. During discussions on the 2025-26 budget, Chan Chun-ying<\/strong>, chairman of the Legislative Council\u2019s Finance Committee, said that adding basketball betting to regulated offerings could generate over NT$1bn (US$30.5m) in annual revenue from gambling tax.<\/p>\n\n\n

See also:<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

See also:<\/span> Hong Kong football chief open to legalising gambling<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police seized gambling paraphernalia, liquor and other illegal items worth over HK$500,000 (US$64,000).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":33583,"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 extensive raids in Yuen Long, arresting 122 individuals for illegal gambling, drug trafficking, and money laundering, seizing over HK$500,000 in illicit assets. Concurrently, the Hong Kong government is consulting on a proposal from the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) to legalize basketball betting, aiming to regulate an estimated HK$70bn-HK$90bn illegal market and generate substantial tax revenue through amendments to the Betting Duty Ordinance.","focusai_entities":"Hong Kong Jockey Club, Chan Chun-ying, Legislative Council\u2019s Finance Committee, Police","focusai_location":"Hong Kong, Yuen Long","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Basketball Betting GGR Projections?","query":"What are the specific legislative timelines for the Betting Duty Ordinance amendments, and what is the projected GGR contribution from legalized basketball betting in its initial years, considering the estimated illegal market turnover?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Impact?","query":"How will the proposed regulatory framework for basketball betting, particularly regarding bet types, competition restrictions, and responsible gambling mandates, mitigate potential cannibalization of existing regulated verticals or address problem gambling concerns?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777025167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025167","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=777025167"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777025221,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025167\/revisions\/777025221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777025167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777025167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777025167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}