The Hong Kong Legislative Council will convene a meeting to discuss proposals for regulating the basketball betting system.

On June 9th, the Hong Kong Legislative Council's Panel on Home Affairs, Culture and Sports will hold a meeting to discuss proposals for regulating basketball betting activities. According to related documents, the Hong Kong government proposes to establish a regulatory framework for basketball betting activities through legislation. This includes empowering the Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth to issue licenses for basketball betting activities to companies, and setting limits on these licenses to minimize the negative impact of gambling on the public. The proposal also suggests using the current method of calculating and collecting football betting tax, where operators would be taxed 50% of the net betting turnover for basketball betting. It is reported that since 2003, the Hong Kong SAR government has regulated football betting and successfully channeled illegal gambling activities into legal avenues. With reference to the current football betting system, it is expected that the proposed regulations for basketball betting activities could similarly redirect illegal gambling demand into legal channels, aiding in the fight against illegal basketball betting activities. On February 26th of this year, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR government, Paul Chan Mo-po, stated in the new budget that according to the latest assessment by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the amount of illegal basketball betting last year was estimated to be between 70 to 90 billion Hong Kong dollars. In order to effectively combat illegal gambling activities, the government is actively considering regulating basketball betting activities and has invited the Hong Kong Jockey Club to submit proposals. Hong Kong Legislative Council member and representative from the sports, entertainment, cultural, and publishing sectors, Holden Chow, mentioned that there is a significant demand for basketball betting activities among the public. Currently, this demand can only be met through illegal means, so it is necessary to regulate basketball betting, combat illegal offshore gambling, and bring the income back into the legal market. He estimates that regulating basketball betting could bring in an additional 1.5 to 2 billion Hong Kong dollars in annual tax revenue for the government.