Public opinion polls were not the government's sole consideration when deciding whether to legalise soccer betting, a senior official said yesterday.
Speaking on an RTHK radio programme, Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping pledged he would carefully balance the interests from all sides before arriving at a decision.
Dr Ho gave an assurance that opinion polls would only be one of the many considerations.
'We will make reference to overseas experience and listen to views from individual groups, and hope to get to know, in a more in-depth manner, about the cause of their concern,' he said.
'We don't hope to do bad things out of good intentions. We hope there will not be a split in society.'
His remarks came after a survey by the Chinese University earlier this month showed that support for legalised soccer gambling had risen 11 per cent over the past four months to 66.5 per cent.