Hong Kong regulators rule out blocking access to illegal gambling websites
Gambling regulator rules out aping Singapore tactics to stop access to unlicensed betting websites, amid fears of ties to organised crime
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 21 September, 2014, 5:14am
UPDATED : Sunday, 21 September, 2014, 5:14am
Patrick Boehler, Bryan Harris and Niall Fraser
Illegal gambling suspects in Macau. Photo: Imagine China
Hong Kong has ruled out Singapore-style measures to stifle the multibillion-dollar online gambling business, amid growing fears internationally about its connections to organised crime.
Draft legislation allowing Singaporean authorities to block access to unlicensed betting websites was introduced this month to tackle a global business that according to a Sunday Morning Post investigation has significant ties to Hong Kong and Macau.
Online betting - the profile and reach of which has seen it embraced as a major advertiser by most of the world's major soccer leagues - is estimated to turn over hundreds of billions of US dollars each year.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club says city punters lose HK$12 billion a year betting online. The club's director of security and integrity, Martin Purbrick, said the business was a key component in what he called the "international expansion and legitimisation of organised crime".
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Bureau, which is ultimately responsible for gaming laws in Hong Kong, said sufficient legislation was in place and it would not go down Singapore's road.
"Respecting freedom to access information, we do not block one's internet access," a spokesman said. "We have adopted a multipronged strategy which includes regulation, law enforcement, public education and provision of counselling and treatment services."
The Lion City's move comes amid a growing global drive to crack down on soccer match fixing, which has seen investigations in Asia - including Hong Kong - and across Europe.
Purbrick said local criminal groups who began life as illegal bookies and graduated to Macau casino junkets were now running betting websites that at best turn a blind eye to money laundering. In July, the FBI arrested Macau junket operator turned online gaming kingpin Paul Phua Wei-seng as part of a sting operation. The Malaysian, who is on bail awaiting trial, denies two charges of illegal bookmaking.
Purbrick said: "This is an international expansion and legitimisation of organised crime using massive wealth accumulated from suspicious funds channelled from China through Macau casinos by junket operators."
In Hong Kong, bets with illegal online gaming sites are popular for their high margins and evasion of tax. Illegal soccer betting had a turnover of HK$500 billion last year, according to the Jockey Club, the city's sole legal online betting platform.
The Post found that Samvo Entertainment, a London-based firm run by Hong Kong businessman Frank Chan Shung-fai, is under scrutiny in Europe's largest match-fixing inquiry. The company denies the allegations.
Hong Kong police made 192 arrests in illegal bookmaking operations in the first half of this year. Following arrests made during an investigation into local soccer match fixing, the Hong Kong Football Association hired fraud monitoring consultancy Sportradar to track games.
Mark Sutcliffe, chief executive of the association, said: "We're sad there are people who make criminal money out of sports. These people don't care about football, just greed and money."
