Hong Kong authorities should use revenue from the legalisation of basketball betting to set up a fund for sports development and boost counselling services for gambling addicts, a leading think tank and NGO have proposed. The city’s largest think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation urged the government to inject earnings from basketball gambling – estimated at more than HK$2 billion (US$257 million) a year – into a new fund for improving sports facilities in the community, promoting sports events, training professional athletes and hosting international sports events. “We should utilise the additional profit to give back to society, especially those concerning public investment,” Josselyn Chau, research manager of the foundation, said. She suggested 40 per cent of the revenue could go to the renovating community sports venues, and 30 per cent for hiring international coaches that could offer better training for athletes. The final 30 per cent, Chau said, could be used for exploring more opportunities for Hong Kong to host more international games. Her suggestion followed the launch of public consultation on the legalisation of basketball betting by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau on Wednesday, which said it would adopt “a pragmatic approach” by allowing a limited number of authorised gambling outlets. The move was first announced by Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po during his budget speech in February. He said it was estimated basketball gambling could add over HK$2 billion to government coffers. The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the city’s sole legal betting operator, estimated that illegal basketball wagers amounted to as much as HK$90 billion (US$11.6 billion) last year. Under the government’s plan, there would be licensing conditions to regulate basketball betting, with terms including imposing restrictions on the types of bets and classes of competitions, and the requirement to display notices which warn against the consequences of gambling addiction. A source told the Post earlier that less than 2 per cent of football gamblers were aged 18 to 22, with betting amounts typically ranging from HK$300 to HK$500. Augusta Yim Ting-ling, a registered counselling psychologist at Zion Social Service Yuk Lai Hing Counselling Centre, said she was worried the legislation would providing an “incentive” for more people to try betting, or start them off at a younger age. Despite the low gambling participation rate of youths, she said most of those who sought help from her NGO had begun betting from between 18 to 26 years old. “It takes some time for one’s gambling habit to show,” she said. Yim hoped the government would proportionally split some of the income to support frontline organisations that handled counselling and treatment service for gamblers. “Preventive education would also need to be enhanced, such as on interventions and promotion [of the impact of excessive gambling],” she said, adding that these measures should be practised regularly and not only during major tournaments such as the Fifa World Cup tournament. The public consultation will end on May 2.