Legal Basketball Betting Is Coming to Hong Kong, But Not Before Late 2026

According to local media outlets in Hong Kong, basketball betting will be launched in the Special Administrative Region (SAR). How soon, however, is another matter altogether, as reports have surfaced that the current regulatory framework is still being hammered out, and so are the details about how betting would work.

Legalized Basketball Betting Coming to Hong Kong

Hong Kong, though, will be getting basketball betting in the foreseeable future, with one tentative date set for September 2026. Hong Kong’s financial secretary, Paul Chan, spoke last week that legalizing basketball betting is in the cards and hinted at the need to address a sprawling black market that is sapping the public purse from revenue.

It would require input from the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), which runs horse racing bets, soccer, and other betting activities in the SAR, and which will have to come up with the details as to how this may happen.

The HKJC does not have to start from scratch, as the SAR already accepts bets on soccer, and a basketball betting ecosystem may simply piggyback on those existing rules that have been known to work and not face too many challenges from authorities.

Nevertheless, local reports have suggested that even if things move smoothly and expediently, HKJC would still need time to revise a comprehensible betting system that will make it possible to launch the vertical in the market.

Basketball Bets May Be Limited to Online Only Wagers

Basketball bets may be up and running in time for the 2026/2027 NBA season, and they may further only be available online and not in retail betting shops, which would be an interesting way to operate the betting vertical.

The HKJC and the government have been keen to uproot illegal gambling that is associated with basketball betting. The sport is massively popular throughout the SAR, and as such, a secondary black market for illegal gambling has emerged to fill the vacuum created by the lack of regulated options.

Local authorities are now seriously looking into addressing this while helping raise additional tax revenue for the city. The latest reports build on previous rumors that the SAR is getting serious about the vertical.

An estimated 150,000 gamblers are placing a bet with an unlicensed operator according to various experts. Channeling the gambling revenue into the public purse could help mitigate the $12.9 million budget deficit that the SAR is facing currently.