Online Gambling Hong Kong Legal
- Hong Kong Legal System
- Buy From Hong Kong Online
- Online Gambling Hong Kong Legal Hotline
- Online Gambling Hong Kong Legalization
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All types of gambling are legal in Hong Kong but the government keeps a very close eye on what’s happening and regulations are tight.
Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) holds a government-granted monopoly on all gambling involving horse races, football matches, and lottery. Bets made through HKJC approved channels are legal. Mahjong is covered separately in the law and poker is a gray area (mostly considered illegal). Legally, for gambling Hong Kong residents must play at approved outlets and sites. Residents must be over 18 to gamble. Under current Gambling Ordinance law, amended in 2006, gambling on lotteries and sports is legal if operated by approved providers. The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) holds the monopoly on government-approved betting. There are 4 cities with gambling facilities in Hong Kong which have 6 legal gambling facilities available in total. The types of gambling available in Hong Kong are: casinos, horseracing tracks. The largest gambling city in Hong Kong is Kai Tak City with 2 gambling facilities, 4 tables games, 20 gaming, slot, and video poker machines.
That being said offshore operators do offer online gambling to residents of the country which we’ll detail below along with a full overview of the situation and rundown of all key laws relating to online and offline gambling.
Betting Sites Available In Honk Kong:
We only know of one betting site available to use if you’re a resident in Hong Kong and that’s 188bet.
Key Facts: Online Gambling In Hong Kong
- Online betting and gambling legal with licensed operators (since 2006).
- Football betting (soccer) is the most popular with punters.
- Legal gambling age is 18+.
- Overseas providers legal with a license (current non exist)
- Offshore operators continue to serve customers in the market.
Gambling Legislation & Laws
Often the best way to understand the legal situation surrounding gambling in any given country is to look back through the legislation passed over the years. The following timeline allows you to do just that for Hong Kong’s gambling industry:
1977 – The Gambling Ordinance
It was in 1977 under the Gambling Ordinance that gambling was first legalised and regulated in Hong Kong.
That piece of legislation determined that gambling was only legal in certain licensed gambling establishments and established a monopoly over lotteries, horse racing betting and other sports betting for the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
2002 – The Gambling (Amendment) Ordinance
In 2002, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed the Gambling (Amendment) Ordinance. This piece of legislation banned all offshore gambling, including offshore internet gambling but did allow for the Hong Kong Jockey Club to offer some online gambling services in the shape of selling lottery tickets and providing horse racing and football betting.
It was this legislation, too, which set down the potential punishments for anyone found operating or using illegal offshore and internet gambling services. These are that representatives of providers can be jailed for up to seven years and the company fined $5 million HKD, and that users of the services can be imprisoned for up to nine months and fined $30,000 HKD.
2014 – Home Affairs Bureau Announcement
In spite of the 2002 legislation, overseas online gambling operators continued to cater for Hong Kong citizens. Whilst this is illegal and the Hong Kong authorities do not condone it, the Home Affairs Bureau did state in 2014 that they would not seek to block access to unlicensed betting websites.
Tax On Winnings?
Another important element of any country’s legal stance on gambling is how the activity is viewed when it comes to tax. In Hong Kong, the situation is mercifully simple as there is currently no mechanism at all for punters to be taxed on their winnings.
In the case of legal gambling provided through licensed establishments and organisations such as the Hong Kong Jockey Club, it is those companies who are taxed and not their customers. When it comes to punters who use illegal online gambling sites, too, the Hong Kong authorities have no way of levying tax on winnings. They can, however, prosecute individuals who do take part in illegal gambling and impose prison sentences and fines.
Deposit Methods: What Works?
Most Hong Kong banks and credit card providers do not allow their customers to deposit to illegal overseas gambling providers. As such, credit or debit card deposits often have sporadic success.
Instead, many of those punters choose to deposit with their chosen sites through e-wallet services such as Skrill or Neteller. These services offer a kind of buffer between the gambling sites and a customer’s bank, and in many cases it is only the name of the e-wallet which shows up on a bank statement and not where the money ultimately goes.
Underage gambling is a global concern. Studies in other countries generally show that more than half of secondary school students have gambled for money in the previous year (involving all forms of gambling, in particular social gambling, lotteries, betting on sports and casino games).
There is a strong association between underage gambling and illegal gambling. Underage persons are vulnerable to thousands of illegal and offshore gambling websites readily available online, many of which are not regulated by law and do not have any age control. Many even provide loans to lure young people to gamble.
Hong Kong Legal System
Hong Kong being an advanced digital city also increases the chance of young people coming into contact with illegal gambling opportunities. Hong Kong people have the highest mobile internet usage rate in the Asia Pacific region, amongst them many are students. A study conducted in 2013 found that 90% of students were using smartphones and nearly half spent over three hours on smartphones each day. In other words, they have easy access to illegal gambling activities through their smartphones anytime, anywhere. It is worth noting that another study tracking web traffic of illegal gambling websites found that about 10,000 underage persons visited and patronised these websites out of a total of more than 200,000 in Hong Kong.
Recognising the far-reaching repercussions of this problem, countries around the world are proactively analysing the causes behind underage gambling and its possible association with problem gambling, in the hope of devising effective measures to mitigate the problem. Many of these studies suggested that the age of gambling initiation is only one of the factors for gambling addiction.
In fact, numerous researches have shown that many risk factors are at play including peer and family influence, a person’s natural propensity to gamble, the person’s mental state (whether he/she has depression traits) and school performances etc.
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As such, most countries set the minimum age for betting at 18, the same as the legal age limit for other adult activities. This is founded on the widely-accepted belief that people aged 18 and above are mature enough and capable of deciding on their own accord whether to vote, get married, smoke, drink and gamble etc.
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By the same token, the World Lottery Association prescribes 18 as the recommended legal gambling age in its responsible gambling guideline. Watching sports is universally popular amongst young adults, the Association believed that raising the age limit will only benefit the illegal operators who can take advantage of this to attract more young patrons. Worst still, the Internet-based operation of these bookmakers makes it even more difficult for proper Government regulation and strict law enforcement.
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Being a socially responsible betting service operator, the Club rigorously abides by a Responsible Gambling Policy. Stringent access controls are enforced at the Club’s two racecourse, all Off-Course Betting Branches and betting websites, underlining its commitment to prevent underage gambling.