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Hong Kong Bettors in Trouble
Net punters on to loser
By Michael Ng
THE government made no promises to legislators yesterday that privacy would not be compromised when prosecuting punters placing bets via the Internet.
Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs Stephen Fisher would not give a reply to Democrat legislator Andrew Cheng, who urged the administration to protect privacy and the freedom to surf the Internet.
``Could Mr Fisher promise that law enforcers would balance citizens' privacy rights and their freedom online, while they are conducting interception work in their future anti-online betting operations?'' asked Cheng, chairman of the Legco Bills Committee, which is considering legislation to tackle offshore betting. Cheng could not draw a reply from Fisher.
The concern was raised after Fisher pointed out that banks or credit card companies would be liable in future if they knew about accounts used in gambling activities but did not report them to the police.
``If a bank or credit card company knows a certain account is owned by an overseas bookmaker and still helps their clients to deposit money into that account, they then [have committed an offence under] future gambling laws and will be subject to legal responsibility,'' he said.
While banks and credit card companies had said they would reject clients making deposits to overseas bookmakers' accounts, they did not promise not to hand over to police relevant personal information of clients who transferred gambling money from banks. Bills committee member Audrey Eu said the law should allow financial institutions to report such information to police voluntarily.
``I don't think these companies should be held legally responsible for not reporting this account information to police,'' she said.
Moreover, ``it would be extremely controversial and difficult for police to judge they were intentionally not reporting the information''. The bill will go to the Legislative Council for a second reading on May 22 and the government hopes the law can be passed before the World Cup 2002 in Korea and Japan starts on May 31.
With about HK$20 billion spent annually on local and offshore soccer gambling, the government said it would reconsider the legalisation of soccer gambling after it looked at the impact of measures against illegal bookmaking and betting during the World Cup.
By Michael Ng
THE government made no promises to legislators yesterday that privacy would not be compromised when prosecuting punters placing bets via the Internet.
Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs Stephen Fisher would not give a reply to Democrat legislator Andrew Cheng, who urged the administration to protect privacy and the freedom to surf the Internet.
``Could Mr Fisher promise that law enforcers would balance citizens' privacy rights and their freedom online, while they are conducting interception work in their future anti-online betting operations?'' asked Cheng, chairman of the Legco Bills Committee, which is considering legislation to tackle offshore betting. Cheng could not draw a reply from Fisher.
The concern was raised after Fisher pointed out that banks or credit card companies would be liable in future if they knew about accounts used in gambling activities but did not report them to the police.
``If a bank or credit card company knows a certain account is owned by an overseas bookmaker and still helps their clients to deposit money into that account, they then [have committed an offence under] future gambling laws and will be subject to legal responsibility,'' he said.
While banks and credit card companies had said they would reject clients making deposits to overseas bookmakers' accounts, they did not promise not to hand over to police relevant personal information of clients who transferred gambling money from banks. Bills committee member Audrey Eu said the law should allow financial institutions to report such information to police voluntarily.
``I don't think these companies should be held legally responsible for not reporting this account information to police,'' she said.
Moreover, ``it would be extremely controversial and difficult for police to judge they were intentionally not reporting the information''. The bill will go to the Legislative Council for a second reading on May 22 and the government hopes the law can be passed before the World Cup 2002 in Korea and Japan starts on May 31.
With about HK$20 billion spent annually on local and offshore soccer gambling, the government said it would reconsider the legalisation of soccer gambling after it looked at the impact of measures against illegal bookmaking and betting during the World Cup.