MARINE Department surveyors are set to give three ''floating casinos'' a clean bill of health - sparking fears there could be a rapid increase in the number of gambling boats operating out of Hongkong.
Assistant director of Marine, Mr John Tse Yan-chi, said long-awaited detailed inspections of the ships had revealed no major flaws, leaving them clear to make nightly gambling cruises in international waters in the South China Sea.
Gambling boat operators fought a three-year legal battle to prevent the department inspecting their vessels, arguing their foreign registration and safety certificates meant they did not come under Hongkong law.
But the Merchant Shipping (Safety) Amendment Bill earlier this year allowed the department to carry out inspections.
Gambling, which is illegal in Hongkong, does not start until the ships are in international waters. Mr Tse re-iterated the department's long-standing insistence that it was only interested in ensuring safety standards at sea.
''It is only safety we are concerned with. We did not have any hidden agenda when we inspected the ships. As far as we are concerned, once they have been inspected they are conducting a legitimate business in Hongkong.'' The trio of gambling boats operating out of Hongkong, the New Orient Princess, Delfin Star and the Queen of Jing Jiang, were surveyed in March and April. While each must go into dry dock to have their hulls inspected, Mr Tse said there were only ''minor maintenance problems for the operators to rectify''.