Hong Kong police raid gambling den with arcade fishing game machines, arrest 2

Hong Kong police have arrested two men after raiding an alleged gambling den with arcade fishing game machines.

The force said on Thursday the suspects included a 39-year-old mainland Chinese visitor who was detained the previous day for allegedly gambling at the residential flat on Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok.

According to police, the other arrestee, a 54-year-old local resident, is held on suspicion of operating a gambling establishment.

In Hong Kong, gambling unlawfully carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a HK$50,000 (US$6,438) fine. Operating a gambling establishment could lead to seven years in prison and a HK$5 million fine.

The gambling den was among 17 locations, including nightclubs, mahjong parlours and pubs, that police searched and raided on the first day of the anti-late-night crime operation, code-named “Levington”, in the Mong Kok district on Wednesday.

The city recorded 6,078 cases of violent crime in the first seven months of this year, up by 8.3 per cent from 5,610 reports over the same period in 2023.