Betting Duty (Amendment) Bill 2025 gazetted

The Hong Kong Government published the Betting Duty (Amendment) Bill 2025 in the Gazette on 20 June 2025¹. The bill amends the Betting Duty Ordinance (Cap. 108) and related subsidiary legislation to create a regulatory framework for basketball betting¹. It will be introduced to the Legislative Council for First Reading on 2 July 2025¹.

The bill gives the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs the power to license a company to operate basketball betting and to set license conditions¹. The license is intended for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which the government said it will license by reference to the existing horse racing and football betting models if the bill passes¹. Betting duty on basketball would be charged at 50% of net stake receipts, the same rate as football betting¹. The bill also expands the functions of the Betting and Lotteries Commission to cover basketball betting matters¹.

The government set out licensing conditions that mirror football betting: a fixed license period, possible limits on bet types and competitions, a ban on bets from juveniles, a ban on credit betting, and required notices on problem gambling⁴. The licensed operator must not accept bets on basketball matches involving Hong Kong teams or matches taking place in Hong Kong⁴.

The Legislative Council brief records the scale of the illegal market the bill targets. The Jockey Club reported that around 100 000 to 150 000 Hong Kong bettors bet illegally on basketball in 2023, a 68% year-on-year increase, with estimated turnover of HK$32 billion to HK$34 billion³. In 2024 the number of illegal basketball bettors rose 186%, with around 430 000 Hong Kong residents having bet illegally on basketball, and estimated illegal market turnover of HK$70 billion to HK$90 billion³.

A public consultation from 2 April to 2 May 2025 drew 1,063 submissions, of which 999 (94.0%) supported the proposed basketball betting regime, 36 (3.4%) opposed it and 28 (2.6%) did not state a clear position³. The government reported the consultation results to the LegCo Panel on Home Affairs, Culture and Sports on 9 June 2025³.

The same gazette also covers a second change. The Executive Council on 17 June 2025 approved Jockey Club proposals to raise the maximum number of non-local races simulcast on local race days from 25 to 40 for the 2025/26 racing season and to 55 from 2026/27, and to raise simulcast days from 37 to 53 for 2025/26 and to 70 from 2026/27³. Local bets on simulcast races rose from HK$4,496 million in 2019/20 to HK$10,591 million in 2023/24, an increase of 135.6%³.

What it means for players

Basketball betting in Hong Kong is not yet legal. The bill only starts the legislative process, and no basketball betting license has been issued. If it passes, the licensed operator would be the Jockey Club, and bets on matches involving Hong Kong teams or played in Hong Kong would not be accepted⁴. Bets from under-18s and credit betting would also be barred⁴. Until the bill becomes law, betting on basketball through unlicensed operators remains illegal, and the government said betting with illegal bookmakers is already an offense¹. For racing, the higher simulcast quotas would widen the number of overseas races available through the Jockey Club's legal channels, which the government links to reduced traffic to illegal betting sites³. Details of how Hong Kong regulates betting are set out in Can I gamble in Hong Kong?, and the tax treatment of racing bets is covered in Betting Duty, GST and Franchise Tax on Horse Racing Bets.

What happens next

The bill is scheduled for First Reading and the start of Second Reading debate on 2 July 2025¹. The date for resumption of the Second Reading debate, committee stage and Third Reading has not been set and will be announced later³.