Jockey Club concerned at rise of betting websites
Officials say they are working to mitigate the impact of illegal exchanges
Jockey Club officials say they are doing all they can to mitigate the impact of so-called illegal Asian betting exchanges and are concerned websites like CITIbet and AA-Star are becoming more accessible to everyday punters.
Earlier this year, ahead of the Fifa World Cup, the club formed a cross-department group to tackle the issue of Hong Kong residents betting with overseas operators and ran a campaign to raise public awareness.
Although goliath sports books IBC and SBO attracted much of the media attention at the time, officials are keeping a close watch on the exchanges, which bet on racing from around the world and allow account holders to bet on individual horses to lose.
Club officials are confident high prize money and the integrity measures in place in Hong Kong are enough of a deterrent to race fixing.
CITIbet and AA-Star are similar in nature to controversial English platform Betfair, but are structured in a way that allow "agents" to extend lines of credit to account holders.
Jockey Club director of security and integrity Martin Purbrick said the main message to the public was a simple reminder that betting with organisations or individuals other than the club was illegal.
"That's why we made an announcement before the World Cup, because we didn't feel that Hong Kong felt that way," he said.