Use tax revenue from basketball betting to fund Hong Kong sports, lawmakers say

Hong Kong lawmakers have urged officials to use a projected HK$1.5 billion (US$193 million) in extra tax revenue from legalising basketball betting to develop local sports, as they gave an initial nod to a government plan to allow gambling on overseas games.

Home affairs minister Alice Mak Mei-kuen on Monday reiterated that the move was not to encourage gambling but rather to regulate basketball betting as a way to claw back up to HK$90 billion in turnover estimated to have been lost to illegal gambling operators.

Mak told a Legislative Council panel meeting that her team was aware of the rising popularity of illegal basketball betting in recent years.

“To combat such illegal activities in an effective manner, we are exploring regulating basketball betting activities,” she said.

“The proposed regulatory regime for basketball betting will be modelled on the existing one for football betting.”

The government is seeking to amend the Betting Duty Ordinance to issue a licence to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the city’s sole betting operator, to manage basketball gambling.

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