Tomorrow morning the Hong Kong Legislative Council Bills Committee will start its morning deliberations by discussing the proposed Gambling (Amendment) Bill. Under the bill's terms, should it be enacted as written, it would become illegal to operate a bookmaking website and/or bet with an offshore bookmaking site.
Violations would be punishable by fines up to HK$5 million and seven years imprisonment. (See "Hong
Kong Faces Prohibition Bill.") The bill was introduced in November 2000 before being sent to the Bills Council for consideration. Since then, the committee has received written submissions or heard oral testimony on three separate occasions.
The Hong Kong government has serious concerns about its citizens' love of gambling. The only horserace betting and lottery permitted under current law is operated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which donates vast sums of money to charity each year. Since reporting that its profit levels have fallen due to increasing competition from offshore Internet sites, the Jockey Club has pushed for the bill's adoption.
On the other hand, the government will be facing an uphill battle against its own citizens' preferences. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on research by NetValue Ltd. that showed more than 41 percent of Hong Kong's Internet users had visited an e-betting site at lease once last year, a marked increase from October when only 22 percent of customers had visited an online betting site. The study was based upon the Internet usage of 2,800 people.
Among its findings: The average user spent 42 minutes on betting sites during December. One site, a Macau-based sports betting site at www.Macauslot.com , proved stickier, with users spending an average of 195.2 minutes time there, although there were no details about whether the visitors actually bet while on the sites.
Faced with these statistics, the Hong Kong government has decided to conduct an inquiry into whether domestic gambling ventures should include sports betting.
Betty Fung, the deputy secretary of home affairs, acknowledged, "No country has ever succeeded in enforcing a law to prohibit their citizens from betting with overseas bookmakers."