What begins as a seemingly harmless small bet can rapidly spiral into insurmountable debt. For two young Hong Kong gamblers, falling into the trap of illegal gambling has cost them their families, shattered trust, and derailed their futures.
One such case involves a 26-year-old man who is currently behind bars for money laundering after he resorted to selling his bank account to criminal syndicates to pay off mounting gambling debts.
In an interview with Sing Tao Probe, a sister publication of The Standard, his mother, surnamed Chan, described her son—identified only as “Man”—as having once been a well-behaved and cheerful young man.
However, their lives took a dark turn during the 2022 World Cup, when Man began placing small,…