New Hong Kong sports venue booking system will mean touts risk prosecution for fraud, leisure bosses

“Under the current system, scalpers only breach the department’s regulations and they are only punishable by a fine and a suspension of booking,” Henry Wong Yau-kuen, the department’s assistant director, said.

“With the declaration, touting is a criminal offence. But we will refer cases to police as the last resort.”

Touts at present face a maximum fine of HK$2,000 (US255) and will be barred from booking any public sports venues for 360 days.

Touts used to queue overnight at booking counters to reserve a pitch and sold the slot on for a hefty premium on the original booking cost.

The government introduced several measures in May last year to tackle the problem, including opening online booking 15 minutes before offline booking.

The department also required hirers of football pitches to input Leisure Link patron numbers of four other users and check in to the venue with at least three of them.

He said scalpers still sold football pitch slots at prices five to eight times higher than the original.

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“Hiring an 11-a-side football pitch for 90 minutes originally cost HK$288, but scalpers can sell the slot for HK$1,100 to HK$1,500,” Ma told Legco.

The new system will also extend the practice of allocating bookings for the 83 natural football pitches through balloting to 235 artificial ones in an attempt to tackle touts.

Mimi Lok Mee-mee, the department’s chief leisure manager, said it might consider extending the balloting practice to other venues at present allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Registration for the new system will be through a new SmartPLAY webpage and mobile application and will start on July 3.

The launch will be done in two phases, with the first stage expected to be in the second half of the year for individual hires and the second sometime in 2024 for group users.

The department said it planned to end booking services at sports venues early next year. Hirers will be able to use machines at venues to make reservations instead.

Lee Yuet-man, chairman of the Hong Kong Recreation and Sports Professionals General Union, welcomed the introduction of the new system and predicted it would help freeze out touts.

But he asked the government to rethink the requirement for three out of four football pitch patron number holders named on bookings to show up when checking in.

“Coaches of children’s football teams usually input names of team members’ parents for ballots,” Lee said.

“But parents do not have the duty to show up and if two of them do not come, the whole training session will be scrapped.”

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Chan Ho-yin, who used to coach professional clubs in Hong Kong and now runs a football school, said he had reservations about the new booking system.

“Whenever the government launches some new measures, scalpers always find ways to bypass them,” he said.

Chan added that he had seen evidence of touting even after the government-imposed measures to clamp down on touts last May.

He said he and a group of friends had created an indoor pitch to train their teams and bypass the need to hire public ones.

“The root of the problem of touting is the lack of facilities,” Chan said. “The government should prioritise football clubs and users with coaching licences.”

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