Punters of all ages rushed to snap up Jockey Club millennium charity sweepstake tickets at their launch yesterday amid continuing controversy over the possibility of youngsters buying them.
Jockey Club chief executive Lawrence Wong Chi-kong, responding to calls for tighter implementation of the ban on ticket sales to under-18s, urged parents to buy sweepstake tickets for their children.
A total of 250,000 tickets will be sold at off-course betting centres, convenience stores, supermarkets, banks and MTR stations for a $20 million jackpot to be drawn on January 1 after the Happy Valley Millennium Race.
Tickets this week are being sold only in $400 collector's packets, before going on sale at $20 each next week.
Mr Wong admitted there were practical difficulties in preventing youngsters from buying tickets, but added: 'Parents could have a role to play by buying sweepstakes tickets for their children.' The Jockey Club chief, who kicked off the sale of tickets at a Wan Chai off-course betting centre yesterday, denied the sale would promote gambling.
'The sweepstake is a form of charity lottery and is a sort of nostalgia rather than gambling.' On Sunday, the Society for Truth and Light pressure group collected 7,267 signatures urging the club to make sure youngsters could not purchase the tickets. Tickets were sold yesterday at more than 1,000 outlets.
