The Gambling Ordinance (Cap. 148) is the principal statute; the Betting Duty Ordinance (Cap. 108) provides the authorisation and duty basis for HKJC's three verticals. HKJC's exclusivity over horse racing, football betting and the Mark Six lottery is delivered through fixed-term, renewable licences granted by the Government on the advice of the Betting and Lotteries Commission, not through an entrenched statutory monopoly; the football betting licence was renewed for five years with effect from 18 July 2025. The Betting Duty (Amendment) Bill 2025 was enacted in September 2025; counsel's position is that it has no effective impact on the duty position, so the enactment is recorded as fact and its practical effect as nil on his authority. No B2B or B2C private licensing pathway exists. Smaller charitable/promotional lotteries are licensed by the Office of the Licensing Authority, and mahjong parlours are separately licensed, but these are outside the commercial igaming perimeter.
Hong Kong SAR · Question 02 of 11
Licensing and regulation: Can we get a licence?
Unfavourable · Confirmed · Expert approved · 1 post-review update · Not reviewed · Back to full Hong Kong SAR report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Hong Kong SAR (HK) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Unfavourable |
| Confidence | Confirmed |
| Review status | Expert approved · 1 post-review update · Not reviewed |
| Last collected | 20 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
The Gambling Ordinance (Cap. 148) is the principal statute; the Betting Duty Ordinance (Cap. 108) provides the authorisation and duty basis for HKJC's three verticals. HKJC's exclusivity over horse racing, football betting and the Mark Six lottery is delivered through fixed-term, renewable licences …
The Betting Duty (Amendment) Bill 2025 was gazetted 20 June 2025 and passed by the Legislative Council on 11 September 2025, amending the durable Betting Duty Ordinance (Cap. 108) to empower the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs to issue a licence to a company for basketball betting, mirroring the existing football-betting model administered through the Hong Kong Jockey Club, with a 50% net-stake duty. No competitive licensing process is contemplated; the mechanism extends the Jockey Club's existing statutory monopoly rather than admitting new operators. Implementation was indefinitely paused in mid-April 2026, leaving the licence pathway enacted but not yet operative, an unresolved posture change from the settled licensing framework of prior cycles.