Experts warn legalisation move will end up expanding access to gambling, call for measures to minimise risks and harm to young people
Hongkonger Cyrus Chan*, 28, still remembers how defeated he felt the day he lost almost everything to gambling.
“One night, around 10pm, I had just lost again and was left with less than HK$8,000 [US$1,020]. I was ready to end my life,” he said, recalling the incident from two years ago.
Chan said a friend introduced him to gambling four years ago, and he soon became addicted.
He even quit his job as a construction worker to gamble full-time, which he said won him quick money at first and also offered an escape from family woes, including a strained relationship with his stepmother.
