A bill which seeks to amend the Gambling Ordinance to tackle activities of unauthorized offshore bookmakers in Hong Kong will be introduced by the Administration, a spokesman from Hong Kong SAR's Home Affairs Bureau said Wednesday.
The spokesman noted that in recent years, a number of offshore bookmaking companies have been providing betting-related services and promoting their business in Hong Kong, in order to induce Hong Kong people to bet with them.
"These unauthorized activities have somehow undermined the integrity of our long-standing policy of restricting gambling opportunities to a few authorized outlets only," the spokesman said.
Activities of the offshore bookmakers in Hong Kong include setting up telephone service hotlines, advertising business in the local media and establishing service centers. Through these services, Hong Kong people can open betting accounts, make betting deposits, obtain betting information and place bets with the offshore bookmakers conveniently via telephone or the Internet.
"The business of some of these bookmakers have been further promoted and facilitated by the live TV or radio coverage of their racing events locally, with the concurrent provision of betting information," the spokesman said.
The Gambling (Amendment) Bill 2000, which sets out the legislative proposals, has been approved by the Chief Executive-in- Council and will be gazetted on Thursday.
The Gambling (Amendment) Bill 2000 is scheduled for introduction into the LegCo later this month.
(Xinhua 11/8/2000)
