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Transcript of SHA's standup briefing
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Following is a transcript (English
portion) of the meet-the-media session by the Secretary for Home
Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, at the West Wing lobby, Central Government
Offices today (April 7):
Secretary for Home Affairs: The Executive
Council approved on Tuesday proposals to reform the duty system
for horse-race betting. The primary objectives of the reforms are
to rationalise the regulatory system for horse-race betting, and
to combat the increasingly rampant illegal gambling on horse races,
while maintaining betting duty revenue at a steady level. It is
intended as a means of tackling an existing problem.
The Government's policy on gambling
is to restrict gambling opportunities to a limited number of authorised
and regulated outlets only. The underlying rationale is not to encourage
gambling. Our proposal to reform the betting duty system is in line
with this policy. I am confident that the reforms could help combat
illegal horse-ace betting.
The major reform proposals are:
* Betting duty will no longer be charged
on the turnover of betting. Instead, a single set of rates will
progressively apply to gross profits ¡V with duty at 72.5% up to
$11 billion, increasing by half a percentage point for every $1
billion up to $15 billion, and at 75% for the amount exceeding $15
billion;
* The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)
would guarantee that the duty payable to the Government during each
of the three years after implementation would be no less than $8
billion. A review would be conducted two years after implementation;
* The HKJC would be allowed to provide
rebates to high-value bettors who lose money, in order to increase
its competitiveness against illegal bookmakers.
More importantly, the regulatory
regime of horse-race betting would be rationalised to bring it broadly
in line with legal football betting and lotteries:
* to put in place a licensing system
for horse-race betting;
* to expand the functions of the existing
Football Betting and Lotteries Commission to include advising the
Secretary for Home Affairs (SHA) on the regulation of the conduct
of horse-race betting; and
* to provide that SHA could issue
Codes of Practice as and when appropriate to prescribe detailed
guidelines on particular aspects of the licensing conditions.
Let me stress here that the reform
is not to encourage gambling in Hong Kong. We would include in the
horse-race betting licence for the HKJC the mandatory conditions
to prevent underage/excessive gambling, and minimise the negative
impact of authorised horse-race betting. The HKJC is prohibited
from taking bets from under-age persons and offering any credit
for betting, and from paying dividends or rebates on bets to juveniles.
As the rebates would only be offered to high-value bettors, the
proposal would rather bring about the effect of diverting illegal
bets to authorised betting channels, thus combating illegal bookmaking
activities.
The HKJC is also required to restrict
related promotional activities and to take appropriate measures
to prevent pathological gambling. Our proposals seek to strike a
balance between the need to combat illegal horse-race betting effectively,
and the need to address public concerns about the negative social
impact of gambling.
The Betting Duty (Amendment) Bill
2006 will be introduced into the Legislative Council on April 26.
The Government's efforts to fight
illegal gambling is threefold.
In 2002, the Government amended the
Gambling Ordinance to combat the unauthorised activities of offshore
bookmakers in Hong Kong.
In 2003, we amended the Betting Duty
Ordinance to authorise football betting and to combat illegal football
gambling.
Today, the Government has decided
to reform the duty system for horse-race betting. This is the third
time since 2002 that we have introduced major reforms to the authorised
betting system.
(Please also refer to the Chinese
portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, April 7, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:29
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