Hong Kong is famously an incredibly diverse country, which expats from all around the world call home. Naturally, this includes a large number of sports fans, and – more specifically – sports bettors. We’re pleased to say that – if you fall into this category – you’ll find an excellent selection of betting sites ready and willing to accept your custom.
In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the current state of betting sites in Hong Kong. We’ll tell you about the best brands and the biggest markets, explain exactly how you get started, give you some top betting tips, and much more besides.
100% Match, Up to 1,200 HKD
100% Match, Up to 1,200 HKD
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£15 Risk-Free First Bet
£15 Risk-Free First Bet
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Arbitrage Betting Accepted
Arbitrage Betting Accepted
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100% Match, up to €100
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Bore Draw Insurance, Acca Insurance, and Loyalty Program Available
25% First Deposit Bonus Up To €125
25% First Deposit Bonus Up To €125
Bet £10 And Get A £10 Free Bet
Bet £10 And Get A £10 Free Bet
While there are no domestic betting sites in Hong Kong, for reasons we’ll explain later, plenty of other brands are happy to accept punters from the country. We’ve filtered down these options for you into a clear top 10, with these being some of the most important criteria we used. As you can probably guess by our name, this is a major priority for us. It’s one of the first things we check on any bookie we encounter, so that – in turn – you can have total peace of mind using our recommended sites. We look at two main areas here. The first is a brand’s licenses, which should come from reputable authorities like the MGA or Curacao Government. The second is actual security measures to protect your data and money, including SSL, firewall-protected servers, independent audits, and so on. The more payment options a bookie provides, the better, as this opens the brand up to the widest possible range of punters. We’ve also evaluated the actual quality of the options here though, regarding processing times, any fees that are charged, and so on. Betting sites which let you use HKD directly, rather than paying in USD, EUR, or GBP, were also given a boost in our rankings. Most of our chosen brands have at least one welcome offer in place. These give you big-time one-off bonuses, which can provide a great kick-start for your betting account. Ongoing promotions can help to keep this momentum going, long after your welcome bonus has been used. In both cases, we’ve checked each brand’s offers for the quality and fairness of its T&Cs. We’ve also analysed the risk:reward ratio of these promos, to ensure that they provide genuine value. As with payment options, this is a case of ‘the more, the better’. The reason is the same too, with a greater range of betting markets hopefully meaning that more punters can bet with a brand. In addition to the sheer breadth of betting markets, however, we’ve also looked at their depth. This applies to competition coverage, the variety of bet types available, and so on. As noted, Hong Kong is an extremely diverse country. That’s why – for these rankings specifically – we’ve rewarded betting sites which provide their platforms in multiple languages. All will be available in English, but most of our recommended brands also let you use their entire desktop and mobile sites in Mandarin, Cantonese, or even both.
As mentioned above, when it comes to special features, it’s a pretty clear case of ‘the more, the better’ in general. Even so, we want to make it clear that we consider some special features to be more important than others.
Certain tools are nice to have, but won’t significantly impact your actual chances of success. Those which do indeed help you to wager more effectively are far more important. Live streaming is a clear example, as it allows you to identify opportunities for both placing and cashing out live bets.
Below, you can get an immediate look at which of our 10 recommended Hong Kong betting sites provide live streaming. We’ve also included a couple of other key features, plus the minimum deposit amount in each place.
Sportsbook | In-Play Betting | Live Streaming | eSports Betting | Minimum Deposit |
1xBet | $1 | |||
22Bet | €10 | |||
BetWinner | $1 | |||
20Bet | €10 | |||
BetOnline | $10 | |||
MatchBook | £5 | |||
Pinnacle | $10 | |||
FEZBet | $10 | |||
MELBet | €1 | |||
MarathonBet | €5 |
Our rankings at the top of this page are the result of extensive testing, research, and analysis. Each will provide you with a modern and enjoyable betting experience.
With that said, it’s also true that each of our chosen brands has its own particular strengths. If you’re only really focused on one or two aspects of sports betting, check out the table below to see which bookie might be the perfect choice for you.
Sign up offers are, by far, the most lucrative promotions you can get in your sports betting. They might only be short-term in nature, but the sheer size of the bonuses involved definitely still makes it worth your time and effort to trigger these deals. Hong Kong bettors will find two main types of welcome offer available to them. Here’s a quick explanation of each in turn. This is the most common welcome offer among Hong Kong sportsbooks, by a distance. That’s certainly not a bad thing, as it also happens to deliver the biggest bonuses of any sign up deal. As the name suggests, these promotions involve the bookie ‘matching’ your first deposit. The size of the match will usually be 100%, meaning your spending power is immediately doubled, but some sportsbooks will give you even more. This match will be given to you as one big bonus (a free bet), rather than as cash. The main catch with deposit match deals is the ‘rollover requirement’, which must be completed before you can withdraw any winnings. This involves betting through your deposit and/or bonus amount a certain number of times, and – as we’ll explain later – some T&Cs will apply here. In the meantime, here are the top three deposit match deals in Hong Kong right now: While in most countries the famous ‘Bet X, Get Y’ is the second-most popular welcome offer, in the case of Hong Kong it’s actually the ‘Risk-Free Bet’. Again though, this certainly isn’t a bad thing, as a Risk-Free Bet is arguably the easiest welcome offer type to both understand and use. These deals basically give you insurance on your first wager with a new brand. If you win it, you collect your winnings as normal. If you lose it, however, your stake will be refunded up to a certain amount. Do note that a certain maximum amount will apply here, so – if you exceed that – you’ll only get the insured value refunded. At the time of writing, only one of our recommended brands will give you a risk-free bet. You should certainly keep your eyes peeled for more, however. As with all special offers, those at Hong Kong betting sites will come with a whole series of terms and conditions attached. ‘Reading the small print’ might sound like a pain, but it’s imperative that you do so in order to avoid making a mistake when triggering any deals, and thus costing yourself both time and money. Here are some of the most important terms to look out for. While it’s relatively rare nowadays, some bookies may need you to enter a specific bonus code in order to trigger their welcome offers. This can usually be found within the T&Cs for the offer. Alternatively, you may need to ‘opt-in’ at some point. The mechanics for doing so will vary from brand to brand. Not all payment methods which a bookie provides will be eligible for the welcome offer. You’ll normally be fine with bank transfer or debit card, but the likes of eWallets and cryptos are usually incompatible with sign up deals. With Deposit Match deals, this must be completed before withdrawing any bonus winnings. It involves betting through your deposit/bonus amount a certain number of times. If there’s a ‘3x deposit rollover requirement’, for example, and you stick 50 HKD in your account, you must bet through 150 HKD. Every welcome offer will require you to deposit a certain amount of money up front. Be aware that this will often be more than the general minimum deposit amount for that brand. These could apply to qualifying wagers, rollover requirements, or any other phase of a welcome offer. In short, you simply need to meet or exceed these odds for your wager to count towards the offer’s requirements. Again, market eligibility can apply to any phase of triggering a welcome offer. You must be careful to stick to both eligible sports markets and specific bet types when using these deals. Any bonuses you receive will come with an expiry date. Most commonly this is seven days, but – like most things – it can vary from brand to brand. It’s crucial you use your bonus before this date, otherwise it will simply disappear. If you want to get started as quickly as possible with your sports gambling in Hong Kong, we’d recommend simply going with one of our top 10 betting sites straight away. If you’d prefer to find a brand for yourself though, you’re obviously welcome to do so. As you conduct this search, and evaluate individual bookies, here are a number of important steps you might wish to take.
Category
Sportsbook
Category
Sportsbook
Best Overall Betting Site in Hong Kong
1xBet
Best Special Offers
BetWinner
Best New Sportsbook in Hong Kong
22Bet
Top Special Features
MELBet
Top for In-Play
MarathonBet
Best Range of Payment Methods
22Bet
Best Mobile Features
1xBet
Best Betting Odds
Pinnacle
Strongest Security
20Bet
Top Option for eSports Betting
MELBet
Betting Sites Bonuses Available in Hong Kong
Deposit Match
Risk-Free First Bet
Key Online Betting Bonus Terms Explained
How to Choose the Top Betting Sites in Hong Kong
You’ll find a huge variety of markets available to you among betting sites in Hong Kong. Most brands will provide at least 20 options, and this number can swell to 25 or 30 or more in some cases. Some markets are obviously more popular than others though, with these being three of the most important for punters in Hong Kong.
The ‘sport of kings’ is immensely popular in Hong Kong, as in many countries. The Hong Kong Jockey Club constantly holds high-level events, and many top bookies will let you bet on all these and more. In fact, from a single premium sportsbook you’ll often be able to bet on courses in the UK and Ireland, France, Australia, the USA, and other countries.
Naturally, you should be sure to check that any events you’re interested in are covered by a bookie before signing up. We’d also recommend seeing if they provide Each Way markets alongside regular Race Winner ones, and – if you feel like getting adventurous – some exotic multiples too.
Recommended Betting Site: 22Bet
Top Tip: There are a huge amount of betting tip columns, podcasts, and videos out there for horse racing, most of which are available completely free. If you’ve got an eye on a particular race, gather as much of this together as you can to make yourself as informed as possible.
Football enjoys universal coverage among betting sites, and this certainly applies to the brands that serve Hong Kong too. Every respectable bookie will let you bet on all professional matchups, in both the domestic, continental, and international formats of the game.
You’ll typically find a huge variety in the bet types you can place too. This allows you go far beyond simple Match Result wagers, and experiment with the likes of Both Teams to Score, Over/Under Goals, player props, and so on.
Recommended Betting Site: Matchbook
Top Tip: Football offers an unprecedented variety of betting markets. Look to try out a range of different options – across in-play, pre-match, and outright varieties – to find the very best bet types for you.
The popularity of both watching and betting on eSports has grown immensely in recent years. Nowadays, almost all Hong Kong betting sites will let you wager on titles such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Rainbow Six, FIFA, and so on.
You should have no trouble finding in-play markets alongside pre-match ones, and – better still – it’s common for a bookie to provide free streaming for live matchups.
Recommended Betting Site: MELBet
Top Tip: As noted, free live streaming of eSports – usually via Twitch integration – is extremely commonplace. We’d advise you to watch along whenever possible, to take advantage of the wild momentum swings – which titles like CS:GO regular produce – via in-play betting.
Alongside the markets listed above, you’ll typically find 20 or so other options on most top Hong Kong betting sites. The most common include tennis, golf, cricket, and athletics. The likes of snooker, table tennis, and badminton are also very popular, as are the top American leagues such as the NFL, NBA, and MLB.
Top Tip: While most bookies will give you plenty of different sports to bet on, there’s never a guarantee that the one you’re most interested in will be included. Be sure to check this in advance before signing up with a new brand.
Obviously, making good picks is the biggest key to betting success. Another huge factor which simply can’t be overlooked, however, is the quality of a bookie’s betting odds. If these are unreasonably low, then you will always struggle to turn a long-term profit, regardless of how smart your predictions are.
With all of our recommended bookies, you can rest assured that you’re getting high quality odds. We’ve analysed each brand in turn, and confirmed that this is the case. If you’re looking to find your own Hong Kong betting sites instead, you must do this yourself.
Fortunately, this isn’t actually that difficult. After picking a brand you’re interested in, take a handful of the prices being offered for a market that’s important to you. Now, compare those to the prices for the same market being provided by a few of our recommended betting sites.
If the new site’s prices are roughly in line, or even better, then continue with your evaluation. If not, move on to another brand immediately.
As a bettor in Hong Kong, this is another area in which you actually have a good amount of choice.
Naturally the likes of debit card and bank transfer are almost always present, but your options expand far beyond this. eWallets such as Neteller and Skrill are also very common, and are typically faster and easier to use than the two aforementioned methods.
More intriguingly, many of the betting sites open to Hong Kong punters will also accept cryptocurrency payments. These provide you with more anonymity, if you’re worried about being caught betting (see ‘Online Gambling Law in Hong Kong’, below). Like eWallets, the speeds at which deposits and withdrawals are processed are typically quicker too.
Since there are no domestic betting brands in Hong Kong, it’s no surprise that there’s also a lack of payment methods which are specifically popular within the country. On the flip-side though, you’ll actually find that many bookies do accept HKD directly, meaning you won’t lose money on any currency conversions during your betting.
Payment Method | Fees | Min Deposit | Min Withdrawal |
Debit/credit card | 0% | €5 (44 HKD) | €10 (88 HKD) |
Bank Transfer | 0% (banks may charge) | €10 | €10 |
Neteller | 1.9-4.95% | €10 | €10 |
Skrill | 0% (withdrawal fee may apply) | €5 | €5 |
Cryptocurrencies | 0% | 0.001 BTC (4,460 HKD) | 0.005 BTC (2,230 HKD) |
Depending on which source you believe, smartphone penetration in Hong Kong hovers slightly below or above 90%. Either way, this is clearly an extremely mobile-friendly country, and this will certainly apply to its punters too.
We’re pleased to say that – if you are indeed a fan of on-the-go betting – you’ll be extremely well-served by Hong Kong betting sites. The majority now have standalone apps for both iOS and Android users, and the quality of these is generally very high indeed. Interfaces are user-friendly, performance levels are smooth, and crashes are kept to a minimum amongst most apps. If you’re looking for the very best of the best though, we’d recommend checking out these three brands first of all:
Opening a new account with one of our recommended Hong Kong betting sites could hardly be easier. You can see the few steps you need to take below, with 1xBet being used as our example bookie.
After you’ve chosen a brand (in this case, 1xBet), head to its home page or download and open its mobile app. Now click the ‘Join Now’ or ‘Register’ button, which is usually located in the top-right.
This will open the first stage of the registration process. At each step, you will be asked to either provide personal information or set your account details (such as your username or password). Once all that’s done, click the green button one final time to finish creating your account.
Before you can place any wagers, you naturally need some money in your account. Make sure you’re logged in, then click the ‘Deposit’ button, which is also normally located in the top-right.
You’ll now see a list of all your available payment options. Pick one, enter the amount you wish to deposit, provide any requisite details, and confirm the payment.
With your account funded, it’s high time to start placing bets. Head back to the home page, then pick the sport you want to wager on from the full list. Find both the competition and matchup you’re interested in, then click the odds next to the relevant bet type to add that selection to your betslip. Now set a stake, and place the wager.
Before making any withdrawals, a legitimate bookie will ask you to verify your identity. This will either involve using a document uploader tool, or contacting the support team via email or live chat. Either way, you will need to provide clear images of both photo ID and some proof of address.
Once your identity has been verified, you’re free to start withdrawing money from your account. As with deposits, simply make sure you’re logged in, enter the Cashier section, and pick one of the available options. Provide any more details that are requested, enter the amount you wish to withdraw, and confirm the transaction.
Since the Gambling Ordinance was passed in 1977, sports betting has been almost entirely banned in Hong Kong. The only legal outlet with which you can do so is the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which holds a state-sponsored monopoly. Online betting – since there are no approved online bookmakers – is illegal by definition.
In reality, however, these measures are designed to stop underground, real-world betting operations. The police force has minimal interest in individual online punters, who are only betting for personal gain. If you wager with one of the many international betting sites which accept Hong Kong customers, and especially if you use a VPN while doing so, you are incredibly unlikely to actually get caught.
As in any country, there’s no guarantee you’ll make a profit with your sports betting in Hong Kong. There are definitely measures you can take to give yourself a better shot though, with these being five of the most effective.
If you’re an inexperienced punter, please don’t go charging in placing 100 wagers a day. Start slow, and ease yourself into the betting experience. Limit yourself to one or two wagers at a time to begin with, preferably with extremely low stakes. Then – once you’re comfortable with the format of the bookie, and betting as a whole – you can start to ramp things up.
Just because you have 20 or 30 sports markets available to you, doesn’t mean you need to bet them all. You’ll make much smarter picks – and give yourself a better chance to turn a profit – if you stick to the handful of sports you know best.
While we recommend limiting yourself to a few sports, there’s no reason to stick to only one or two bet types. In fact, we’d recommend experimenting here. Every bet type represents a different blend of risk and reward, and trying out new ones will help you find the bet types which best suit you.
In-play betting offers a whole new world of possibilities compared to pre-match. We’d definitely recommend trying it out, and don’t be afraid to cash out an existing wager which isn’t working either. In each case, it is extremely important that you actually watch the events if possible, in order to spot the perfect times to place or bail on those bets.
This is one of the biggest keys to long-term success. You absolutely must limit the amount of money you risk on sports betting, and the number of wagers you place. A failure to do so will see you not only blow up your betting account, but seriously harm your bank account too. Remember that sports betting is supposed to be a fun hobby, and that – if you are ever struggling with your gambling – there’s plenty of help available to you.
Technically, gambling is almost entirely illegal in Hong Kong. In reality, it remains extremely popular, and the risks for doing it are almost non-existent. Better still, if you choose to do so, you’ll find plenty of great international betting sites willing to take your bets.
After reading this article, you now know what those sites are, how to use them, what markets you can bet on, and a whole lot more. Now all that remains for you to do is pick one of our recommended Hong Kong betting sites, sign up, take advantage of the welcome offer, and start having fun.
100% Match up to 888 CNY
100% Match up to 888 CNY