The Chairman of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, says that legalizing gambling on local football matches could bring more resources into the sporting community and lessen reliance on other funding outlets.
In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, Eric Fok noted that the issue has been under discussion “for quite a while”.
Fok noted that it’s necessary to take into account not only Hong Kong’s situation but also questioned “where is football going?” in regards to the prevalence of betting on matches.
Summarizing the response from HK’s sports sector, Fok notes that “there are a lot of people that brought this up and have expressed that they support this”.
The primary crux would be regulation, as well as public support, but legalizing the betting on such matches “will definitely help the sports sector in having more resources”.
Fok counters this by saying that the potential societal impact would have to be measured and that “we need to be very cautious and sensitive,” noting that the legalization idea is only at the “discussion phase”.
Hong Kong’s reigning footballer of the year, Philip Chan, had previously told SCMP that allowing gambling on local football matches could “attract investment” and “increase public interest”.
However, the SAR’s Home and Youth Affairs Bureau warned of potential problems from match fixing and claimed that demand for betting on such matches is not large enough.
Currently the only legal sports betting in Hong Kong is restricted to horse racing and large-scale international football matches – such as the English Premier League.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Home Affairs, Alice Mak, said in December of 2024 that “it is the government’s policy not to encourage gambling”.
This is not the first request to expand sports betting options in Hong Kong, with the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Jockey Club last year expressing openness for NBA betting, if permitted by authorities.
Similarly, Hong Kong legislator Adrian Ho proposed both increasing the duty on football betting, expanding the number of football betting licenses in the city, and exploring introducing other sports such as NBA and F1.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s football betting turnover for the 2024 financial year amounted to HK$160.3 billion ($20.6 billion), up by 2.2 percent yearly
