Budget 2025: Potential legalisation of basketball betting ‘disastrous,’ says children’s rights NGO
Hong Kong Free Press
The potential legalisation of basketball betting – which according to the Hong Kong government can tackle illegal gambling and raise tax revenue, will be a “disastrous move,” a children’s rights group has said.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights criticised the government’s plan to seek a proposal on regulating basketball betting, which the advocate group described as the “first step towards legalisation.”
The committee was referring to the 2025 Budget delivered by Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Wednesday. The minister said the government aimed to combat illegal basketball betting in the city, as the turnover from such activities reached HK$70 billion to HK$90 billion last year.
The potential legalisation of basketball betting came as the city recorded an estimated HK$87.2 billion deficit. The measure is estimated to generate HK$1.5 billion to HK$2 billion in tax revenue annually, the finance minister said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The authorities would ask the Hong Kong Jockey Club – the city’s sole authorised betting operator – to submit a proposal, Chan said.
The children’s rights group said on Thursday that giving a green light for basketball betting was a “disastrous move.” Gambling policy was a “sensitive issue” that must be handled with care, because the social cost could be higher than what the government could earn from the lottery tax, it said.
The committee went on to say that popularising sports betting could “lure” young people to bet with their limited financial resources that were otherwise budgeted for other needs. Gambling loss may also result in psychological pressure and guilt, which may deter individuals from seeking help, it said.
Gamblers could enter a “vicious cycle” where they turn to lending agencies or engage in criminal activities, the group warned.
“We must not take gambling problems too lightly and underestimate the bad effects of gambling on children and youngsters. Once the scope of legalised gambling is expanded, another wave of expansion will be inevitable,” the group wrote.
The NGO also called on the government to conduct a “transparent and thorough” public consultation on basketball betting. It also urged the authorities to assess the impact of sports betting on young people before moving towards legalisation.
The authorities should consider the cost of handling gambling problems and provide resources for counselling and treatment services as well, it added.
HKFP learned from government sources on Wednesday that the authorities aimed to roll out a public consultation for legalising basketball betting by the end of the year.
Lawmaker Kenneth Fok of the sports, performing arts, culture, and publication functional constituency, told reporters on Wednesday that he hoped the government could legalise basketball betting before the start of the 2026-27 National Basketball Association league season in October 2026.
The new budget plan marked a reversal from Chan’s statement last year.
During a private event organised by the South China Morning Post last March, the finance chief said that he was “really hesitant” to legalise “additional gambling for the purpose of raising government revenue.”
It was not the “right direction,” he said. “If we legalised that, it would affect our youth.”
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