Prominent businessman and ex-legislator Helmut Sohmen yesterday called on the government to relax gambling laws.
Speaking on RTHK's View from the Top television programme, Dr Sohmen, son-in-law of the late shipping tycoon Sir Y. K. Pao, said: 'The issue here is always to maintain a clean situation, a clean system [to] avoid criminal elements muscling in on the situation.
'But I really don't see any reason why Macau can have a casino, [and] we can't - and why football betting should be a terrible tragedy. Betting on the horses is okay . . . to me, it's all the same.'
He said Hong Kong had enough attractions to become the 'Monaco of China'.
Dr Sohmen, a legislator in the late 1980s, said Hong Kong retained many of its advantages as a business centre but he believed the government lacked a long-term vision.
He said it might take some time for the new ministerial system to show results.
