Hong Kong punters splash out HK$500b on illegal sports betting

Hong Kong's huge illegal sports betting market generated HK$500 billion in turnover last year, while over the same period punters in the city lost HK$12 billion in illicit bets, Jockey Club experts have revealed.

The numbers emerged from a forensic study of sports betting patterns since the Jockey Club introduced soccer betting in 2003. And the HK$500 billion is almost four times what the club's horse racing and soccer betting operations turned over last year.

The figures, revealed days before the start of the World Cup finals in Brazil - which will likely deliver illegal bookmakers a multibillion-dollar boost - have prompted calls for a complete rethink of Hong Kong's strategy to combat black-market betting.

Jockey Club director of trading Patrick Jay said the problem was now too big for law enforcement to tackle alone and required a coordinated government and societal response.

"It's time for people to stop thinking that illegal sports betting is not a blood crime," he said. "The links to organised crime are real and HK$12 billion is equivalent to 60 per cent of the Hong Kong government's Community Care Fund.

"That is 17,000 public housing units, 300 elderly care homes or 100 secondary schools,"