The History of Gambling in Hong Kong and Macao
Hong Kong became a British colony after Britain and other foreign powers defeated China in the Opium War in 1841. As a British colony, Britain appointed the local governor and introduced a Western-style government. In the early years of the British colony
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The History of Gambling in Hong Kong and Macao
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History of Gambling in Hong Kong: The Story of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Early Development of the Hong Kong Gambling Industry
Hong Kong became a British colony after Britain and other foreign powers defeated China in the Opium War in 1841. As a British colony, Britain appointed the local governor and introduced a Western-style government. In the early years of the British colony, gambling was popular among the indigenous Chinese. The British government did not ban gambling in the newly acquired colony. At that time, there were neither casinos nor organized gambling establishments. In 1844, the British governor put forth a number of legislative orders, most of which covered taxation as well as law and order. Among these laws, one entitled “Ban Gambling Regulations” was passed. This legislation imposed a maximum fine of 200 dollars for people who gambled or recruited others to gamble. The gambling ban did not originally aim to prohibit gambling—its main purpose was to increase government revenues from the fines collected. This law laid the foundation for legislation prohibiting public gambling in Hong Kong. However, increasing tax revenue through prohibiting gambling was not an effective way to reduce gambling among the local Chinese. During the Ching Dynasty, gambling was at the root and foundation of Chinese culture. Gambling, especially among friends and relatives, had long been a tradition in Chinese popular culture. Chinese people loved to play mahjong with friends and relatives during festive seasons (Chan and Ohtsuka 2010). In the early years of British colonization, gambling was especially common among immigrant laborers from Mainland China. Most of these workers were from Canton, a neighboring province in Mainland China. The majority of these workers were illiterate and worked under harsh and unhygienic conditions. For them, gambling was their only pastime and social © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.C. Chan et al., Problem Gambling in Hong Kong and Macao, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-1068-2_1
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1 The History of Gambling in Hong Kong and Macao
leisure activity. Very often, these workers gambled illegally in the small betting houses in the central districts of the new colonial government. The area notorious for illegal gambling was Hollywood Road in the Central district of Hong Kong. They frequently went to these houses once or twice a week in search of the dream of quick riches and fortunes. However, very often, many of these illiterate workers lost all their earnings and found themselves heavily in debt. Unable to pay off their debts, many of these gamblers were sold as slave workers overseas. Some went as far as the USA. The local Chinese named these early victims of problem gambling “piggy workers.” This increase of illegal gambling can be linked to the ineffectiveness of the British government and to the corruption of police officers at that time. The British government, in the first few years of operation in Hong Kong, had little
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