Latest Search
Quote
| Back Zoom + Zoom - | ||||
|
Govt Proposes Legislative Amendments to Regulate Claw Machine and Pinball Arcades, Issue "Amusement Game with Prizes" Licences to Devices
Recommend 7 Positive 8 Negative 9 |
||||
|
||||
|
The government plans to strengthen regulation of pinball parlours, claw machine shops and internet cafes. The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau has submitted a paper to the Legislative Council proposing legislative amendments to require pinball parlours and claw machine shops to operate under licences. It also proposes to directly include internet cafes under the licensing regime of the Amusement Game Centres Ordinance, or allow internet cafes to apply for exemption from the amusement game centre licence on a case-by-case basis subject to stringent conditions set by the government. The authorities pointed out that, according to a High Court ruling in 2022 concerning a claw machine shop, general claw machines do not fall within the definition of "entertainment" under the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance. Therefore, at present, claw machine shops that charge customers to retrieve items from machines are not required to obtain a Places of Public Entertainment Licence under the Ordinance. As a result, certain gaming facilities or venues that should fall under the regulatory scope of the "Amusement Game with Prizes" licensing regime have been unable to obtain such licences due to the prerequisite of holding a Places of Public Entertainment Licence, which is considered undesirable. According to a paper submitted to the Legislative Council Panel on Home Affairs, Culture and Sports, the authorities plan to amend the Gambling Ordinance to enable the Licensing Authority to directly issue "Amusement Game with Prizes" licences to individual gaming devices. Under the new measures, licensees will be required to display prominent notices at venue entrances, and licensing conditions such as anti-addiction warnings will be considered to enhance the identification of licensed devices. The government proposes removing the requirement of holding a Places of Public Entertainment Licence as a prerequisite for "organising and conducting amusement games with prizes", allowing the Licensing Authority to issue licences directly to individual devices based on their nature without requiring the premises to first obtain a Places of Public Entertainment Licence, thereby enhancing regulatory effectiveness from a gambling perspective. In addition, the government noted that the relevant licence fees have not been adjusted since 2000. It will consider reviewing whether the fees should be revised in accordance with the cost recovery principle. The government stressed that the policy objective of the legislation is to strike a balance among safeguarding public safety, allowing the public to moderately enjoy such activities, and facilitating business operations. (da/u) This article was automatically translated by AI, the Chinese version should be considered the authoritative version. AASTOCKS.com Limited does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness and accepts no liability for any damages or losses arising from the use of this translation. Auto-translated by AI AASTOCKS Financial News |
||||
Copied to Clipboard
 |
||||
