The Club provides regulated betting entertainment to support the Government’s gambling policy and combat illegal gambling activities. To further the fight against illegal gambling, the Club has a long-standing partnership with Ping Wo Fund, NGOs and police to tackle the problem through various means, while preventing Hong Kong people from falling prey to gambling traps through public education.
Illegal gambling operations lure customers with credit betting and a wide range of betting products that are constantly evolving. Advancement of mobile technology and easy accessibility to the Internet further add to the reach of these illegal bookmakers, many of whom target Mainland and Hong Kong as key markets. Taken note of this, the Club has been closely monitoring the development of illegal gambling activities and in turn enhanced its betting services to ensure its competitiveness vis-à-vis illegal bookmakers, in a bid to prevent the betting money from falling into the hands of illegal bookmakers.
The Club is committed to a multi-pronged approach to combating illegal gambling, through collaboration with community partners in areas of law enforcement, education and prevention. On the one hand, the Club has frequent information and intelligence exchanges with police on the illegal gambling market. On the other hand, it provides strong financial support to Ping Wo Fund each year to commission researches on gambling issues and provide counselling and treatment services to problem and pathological gamblers through NGOs. The Fund also organises regular territory-side educational campaigns to remind Hong Kong people the harms of excessive gambling.
Meanwhile, the Club attaches equal importance to promote responsible gambling among bettors and the community at large. Through myriad initiatives such as TV info-segments and promotional items displayed at its Off-Course Betting Branches, customers are reminded not to gamble on credit or wager with illegal gambling operations. The Club also conducts regular exchanges with international organisations and overseas counterparts to share experience on how to combat illegal gambling and promote responsible gambling practices.
