Addicts

Aside of suicide, gambling has been confirmed as a significant social problem in Hong Kong, a city with "one of the world's highest rates of gambling addiction".

Legal gambling in Hong Kong consists of horse racing, football betting and the Mark Six lottery. Illegal gambling is rampant; Hong Kongers will bet on anything, including mah jong and cricket fights. Macao's casinos are but an hour away by jetfoil.

Bedfellows of illegal gambling include loansharking, fraud, embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption.

Loansharks are by far the easiest to get to (and the easiest to get into trouble with) for quick cash when gambling has grown out of control. The consequences are harsh:

A 50-year-old housewife wiped away tears ... as she told how she had lost more than $1 million gambling in the past 15 years - and how her daughter refused to lend her money to repay loansharks because "she wanted to keep enough to buy me a coffin".

Damn, that's cold.

Gambling is one vice I have no problem avoiding; squandering time and money has never made any sense.

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