[NEWS]Hong Kong Influencer Charged for Allegedly Promoting Online Gambling

[Odusko]

This is the most appropriate punishment for influencers that knowly promote products that are illegal and have not received regulatory approval, I wish that these steps would be extended to other regions around the world at least to send a message to those fake influencers who are after their own pocket and forgetting the impact their actions could have on the general public.

[bhadz]

If we have this type of law just as Hong Kong, I think that many of the social media influencers have already been charged as well. Although there were some few months ago and they charged them. But it seems that they're not consistent in it. They've done that because many have complained online with the rampant online casinos that came out and they only targeted the unregistered ones leaving the registered casinos with no restriction and they're advertising in the billboards, television and even in texts.

Are you from Nigeria, by the way?
Because that is the kind of aggressive advertising which I would only expect to happen within a society which has gambling deeply established in their daily life.
Gambling is legal here in my country and I have never seen gambling being advertised through messages on my phone, or on Television... Though, I have indeed seen some billboard with gambling advertising here in my city.

Nope, I'm from the Philippines. Gambling is also legal here in my country, but the proliferation of it has become quick, and the establishment of new online casinos has been rampant. They really do aggressive marketing, and that's why many are mad because it also results to many gambling addicts, teenagers, and adults. And as for the advertisements on those channels that I've mentioned, in television you'd see them on broad day light and in the afternoon when mostly are watching noon time shows.

In the end, internet is very difficult to police and it would take the influencer to be within the jurisdiction of the country and Instagram, Facebook and other social media to collaborate with one's government, in order to take down videos with illegal advertising.
Though, I suspect those social media companies do not want to quickly get rid of gambling advertising, as it gives them some renevue in the mid term, in the end those influencers are like indirect workers for the social media platform.

They, the government have shown some strictness a few months ago but, they seem to be doing that only from the start and forgets later on just to report to the masses that they're doing something against it.

[Hispo]

Nope, I'm from the Philippines. Gambling is also legal here in my country, but the proliferation of it has become quick, and the establishment of new online casinos has been rampant. They really do aggressive marketing, and that's why many are mad because it also results to many gambling addicts, teenagers, and adults. And as for the advertisements on those channels that I've mentioned, in television you'd see them on broad day light and in the afternoon when mostly are watching noon time shows.

...
They, the government have shown some strictness a few months ago but, they seem to be doing that only from the start and forgets later on just to report to the masses that they're doing something against it.

Philippines is a beautiful country.
I would like to be able to visit some day!

Anyways, I can certainly understand the frustration of communities from developing countries like this in Philippines, I am from Venezuela, which is also a developing country. The key difference here is that gambling is not so aggressively advertised and it is not completely engraved in our culture and young people here tend to play card games against one another instead of going directly for casino games like in other countries like Nigeria, the United States, and countries from the south if Asia.

Perhaps if within your countries there was more respect and enforcement of law by authorities on what casino can and cannot do, then we would not see so many people addicted to gambling, also with some promotion of education on how house edge and RTP works to keep casinos profitable in the long term...

[TypoTonic]

But I can't find the exact name of the casino which she promotes.

I already posted the name of the platform in question, but if you & others want to see how I connected the dots, do the following steps:

• Look for other articles that have posted the partially blurred versions of the banners ^{[e.g., this one]}, then do a reverse image search and scroll until you find a result that hasn't blurred any of the parts ^{[e.g., refer to the latter part of this article]}.
  

The image in the article somehow fails to load for me, so I did the same method and found this one.

If you visit the link (redirects to Boda8 HK), you can no longer find any advertisement that includes her. But that doesn't mean that she's no longer in partnership with the casino, because if you visit Boda8 Malaysia, her banners are still there (as of writing this post), and she's even labeled as their "Global Brand Ambassador 2026/27".

[Fortify]

As the title says, an influencer in Hong Kong is charged with promoting offshore online gambling. According to the article, the influencer is facing up to 7 years in prison and a fine of up to $638,000, which is HKD 5 million in their currency. Her lawyers argue that the influencer thought that what she was doing was legal and that the casino's operation was legitimate. Right now she is released on bail after he court appearance.

The article mentioned that the casino in question was advertising itself to "Asian users and positioned itself as a major online gaming brand". They also said that the platform is actively advertising around major sporting events. I kind of wonder what the name of the casino is.

You have to be pretty foolish to get involved with any form of gambling in China and they are pretty strict against it, even worse if you are actively promoting it on a public platform. They go through random crackdowns focused on different industries and a few years ago it was hitting all the casinos in the country. This will be a similar smaller scale crackdown on easier targets, especially when they claim to be going through morality drives. Hong Kong is just another place in China now and nothing escapes th grip of the party, especially when they want a distraction from some government corruption or bad headlines in the future economy. They'll get a few years in prison but it's just a drop in the ocean of people there and others will fill that gap.

[Lida93]

When an influencer receives a deal the smart thing for them to do is to check it out to see how legit it is but most don't bother with doing that, one the payment has been flashed over their faces the suddenly become incapable discerning between what's legit and what isn't and just promote whatever comes their way, it's a regrettable situation for this particular influencer but still the very least the others will learn from it and be more careful next time about who they promote.
It's a good thing I don't really pay much attention to those influencers types.

If it's that influencer that's out there chasing clots then running a background check on the company with the deal offer would be that last thought in their head, it won't even sound relevant a thing to do in as much as they're paying big cash. If the government can be this strong on clamping on this types of influencers promoting illegal services then we might just have this situation of casino scams reduced to a barest minimum if not totally quelled.

[TastyChillySauce00]

It's hard not to call how Erena is such a dumb person. There have been 19 people who get arrested due to the same reason before her. So it's so stupid if she was doing the thing that already prohibited to promote illegal gambling site. Hongkong has been known banned gambling on its terriroty since 1977.
That's why i think he deserved it. However, it's feels weird the court to release him through bail while the people before him getting arrested.

I'm wondering what's court reason to release him in bail.

[bhadz]

Nope, I'm from the Philippines. Gambling is also legal here in my country, but the proliferation of it has become quick, and the establishment of new online casinos has been rampant. They really do aggressive marketing, and that's why many are mad because it also results to many gambling addicts, teenagers, and adults. And as for the advertisements on those channels that I've mentioned, in television you'd see them on broad day light and in the afternoon when mostly are watching noon time shows.

...
They, the government have shown some strictness a few months ago but, they seem to be doing that only from the start and forgets later on just to report to the masses that they're doing something against it.

Philippines is a beautiful country.
I would like to be able to visit some day!

Anyways, I can certainly understand the frustration of communities from developing countries like this in Philippines, I am from Venezuela, which is also a developing country. The key difference here is that gambling is not so aggressively advertised and it is not completely engraved in our culture and young people here tend to play card games against one another instead of going directly for casino games like in other countries like Nigeria, the United States, and countries from the south if Asia.

Perhaps if within your countries there was more respect and enforcement of law by authorities on what casino can and cannot do, then we would not see so many people addicted to gambling, also with some promotion of education on how house edge and RTP works to keep casinos profitable in the long term...

You should visit someday. Despite that we've got a bad government, we can't deny how beautiful it is. I haven't explored my country much, though. How I wish that the government is the same as Venezuela on their take with gambling but, I think that they can't stop it due to the profit that they're getting from it. And that's why the advertisement is so much and that can't be stopped and they're more aggressive. In fact, we're listed as the #1 in the South East Asia and even ranked more than Macau.

[ColdLava40]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

He was even sued, at least one out of many.

He's not the first influencer to promote some shit casino, a lot of them are into this business. Most of their videos you watch online comes with one or two of some new casinos trying to get players to use these sites.

They don't even try to go through these sites to know if they are legit or not. Theirs is to secure the bag and leave many gamblers stranded in the hands of scammers. But good thing this guy would serve the purpose. His story will be a lesson to many others.

[Finestream]

This is the most appropriate punishment for influencers that knowly promote products that are illegal and have not received regulatory approval, I wish that these steps would be extended to other regions around the world at least to send a message to those fake influencers who are after their own pocket and forgetting the impact their actions could have on the general public.

If a particular region will be more focused on this matter, obviously this kind of problem will be given immediate action, and punish those who are promoting illegal casinos. The problem is, illegal online casinos are giving them huge amount of commission under the table that are irresistible, so its hard for them to beat with this kind of illegalities.

The thing is, its the innocent people who fall as victims that will suffer the consequence, not the promoter or the founder itself.

[Ziskinberg]

It's hard not to call how Erena is such a dumb person. There have been 19 people who get arrested due to the same reason before her. So it's so stupid if she was doing the thing that already prohibited to promote illegal gambling site. Hongkong has been known banned gambling on its terriroty since 1977.
That's why i think he deserved it. However, it's feels weird the court to release him through bail while the people before him getting arrested.

I'm wondering what's court reason to release him in bail.

Obviously because there is bigger money with illegal promotions. So its hard for her to leave as easy as that. Call her dumb and stupid, but anyone that is feed with greed and makes life everything perfect will find it hard to leave that kind of job, regardless if its an illegal thing or the thing that breaks the law.

But everything has come to an end, but I don't think this kind of person will stop from there. She will find another means to sustain his way of living, even if it means another illegalities.

[Questat]

This is the most appropriate punishment for influencers that knowly promote products that are illegal and have not received regulatory approval, I wish that these steps would be extended to other regions around the world at least to send a message to those fake influencers who are after their own pocket and forgetting the impact their actions could have on the general public.

These kind of influencers will only be fearful at first, but after weeks or months and they hear nothing about cases like this, they will be confident again to continuously promote illegal online gambling.

And money that is at stake here is not something that anyone can easily resist, you will really get tempted to promote online gambling if the cash reward is the amount that you will never get to experience no matter how long you'll be working an 8-hour day job.

I have no against with online gambling, but I have no fondness for those who are promoting illegal online gambling casinos because they can leave a huge negative impact to all their players or users.

[boyptc]

But everything has come to an end, but I don't think this kind of person will stop from there. She will find another means to sustain his way of living, even if it means another illegalities.

Those who have been used to that type of living, they'll continue to live with that unless that they truly want to change.

These influencers should know their boundaries and have that stats of the age of their audience. If they have a median follower of the teenagers, that's bad.

And I know that Hong Kong is strict on this matter and that's why it's just a bus or boat away to go to Macao.

[Hispo]

Nope, I'm from the Philippines. Gambling is also legal here in my country, but the proliferation of it has become quick, and the establishment of new online casinos has been rampant. They really do aggressive marketing, and that's why many are mad because it also results to many gambling addicts, teenagers, and adults. And as for the advertisements on those channels that I've mentioned, in television you'd see them on broad day light and in the afternoon when mostly are watching noon time shows.

...
They, the government have shown some strictness a few months ago but, they seem to be doing that only from the start and forgets later on just to report to the masses that they're doing something against it.

Philippines is a beautiful country.
I would like to be able to visit some day!

Anyways, I can certainly understand the frustration of communities from developing countries like this in Philippines, I am from Venezuela, which is also a developing country. The key difference here is that gambling is not so aggressively advertised and it is not completely engraved in our culture and young people here tend to play card games against one another instead of going directly for casino games like in other countries like Nigeria, the United States, and countries from the south if Asia.

Perhaps if within your countries there was more respect and enforcement of law by authorities on what casino can and cannot do, then we would not see so many people addicted to gambling, also with some promotion of education on how house edge and RTP works to keep casinos profitable in the long term...

You should visit someday. Despite that we've got a bad government, we can't deny how beautiful it is. I haven't explored my country much, though. How I wish that the government is the same as Venezuela on their take with gambling but, I think that they can't stop it due to the profit that they're getting from it. And that's why the advertisement is so much and that can't be stopped and they're more aggressive. In fact, we're listed as the #1 in the South East Asia and even ranked more than Macau.

Since you are from Asia and market is quite different from what we usually see here in Latin America, I would like you to tell me a little.bit more about how prevalent gambling and betting is there in your country.
Are all your family members gamblers or bettor? How much advertising is there on the streets? Are politicians personally involved with the profitable business of casinos in your country or are they forbidden to side with the house in order to gain money from the losses of the majority of people?

In general, people here in the Americas apply some stereotypes on people from Asia, tagging the most of you as gamblers, I would like to know whether it is true most people from your country (and sub-continent) actually are so into gambling, to be point it has become part of your life.

[Bryan jessy]

Could this be called ignorance of the law or the deal was so attractive that she could not resist, look where it landed her, it sad for her to have be caught up this way, she should have made a research before accepting such deal I am sure she is supposed to be aware their law is against online gambling, gambling is a sensitive game that is why some countries do not just accept  some random set-up, it should be well established and acceptable by the law and must be account for just in case the law enforcement place charges, some places they see online gambling as a means to scam people that is the reason the prohibit it, and prefer physical gambling instead as it could be monitored.

[TedMosby]

I think all countries should ban influencers from gambling marketing. "Influencers," as the term suggests, aim to "influence" people. For influencers, it's so easy to influence their followers. The followers will do almost everything their influencers do. That is also something that makes them feel close to the influencers, getting in touch indirectly by doing the same things as the influencers they follow. They are their role models.

Here in my country, gambling is illegal, but many influencers promote gambling on social media, and the police do nothing about it. The funny thing is, they never use gambling terms like gambling, bet, etc. The terms used are more like they are promoting a normal mobile game. Once they are caught by the police when they don't give the amount of money the police want, the statement is always in the same format. They don't know it's illegal, they don't know it contains gambling activity, and they say that they will strictly review every brand deal before publishing.

IMO, gambling should be promoted like cigarette or condom advertisements. They never show how it's done, but we know they are cigarette or condom ads. And they should be published or aired during "adult" timeframes.

[davis196]

She Thought It Was Legal
Her legal team has argued that she believed the operation was legitimate and claimed the platform did not accept customers based in Hong Kong. They also maintain that she did not knowingly participate in illegal activity.

Prosecutors allege that the influencer only recently began promoting the gambling site across her social media accounts, where she was described by the platform as a promotional figure.

Authorities also noted that the platform has been actively advertising around major global sporting events, including upcoming football tournaments, in an effort to attract international bettors.

The case comes amid broader scrutiny of offshore gambling operators targeting Asian markets via digital advertising and influencer partnerships.

Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly warned that promoting or facilitating access to such services may breach local gambling laws, no matter the operator is based.

Damn, 7 years in prison and 638K USD in fines for gambling promotion seems just too much. Did she kill or scam anyone?
Gangsters get sentenced to prison for maximum 5 years after committing serious crimes where I live. The Hong Kong legal system is brutal. Maybe she and her lawyers would agree on a settlement outside court. Also, the "she thought it was legal" argument is laughable. Many influencers should be careful with what they are saying online. I wonder where the people from Hong Kong are gambling online? Do they use VPNs and proxies?

[CryptSafe]

Influencer marketing is fully regulated in hongkong. So it's weird she doesn't know it. So i guess he lacks of update regarding what regulations applied to the influencers who based in hongkong. The good part is that she's getting released. Hopefully, she doesn't repeat the same mistake.  

The government is regulating everything and it's a surprise how he was able to promote gambling without getting a license that will give him the power to do what he has been doing since. Many influencers have been guilty for this but until the government comes for them before they will understand the consequences of what they have been doing.

The truth is that the government do not pay attention to most of these influencers handles to see for themselves what these influencers promote not until the masses have raised a concern towards anything that seems not alright with them that is when the agency responsible for such activities would swing into action. They see the influencers like people who are upright and reasonable but forget that they too are human being and can make cras mistakes that could cause their fan base darely.

If the government could keep a regular check on influencers handles and what they promote online via social media handles, most of the scams would reduce because majority of the scams that occurs are project's promoted by these influencers to lite their community and fan base into investing in such projects because they too would have a good benefit for a job well done by them.

[Son Of Blockchain (SOB)]

If a law says do not do certain things and someone goes against it then the law breaker would face the penalty, maybe the pay for promoting the platform was too much that she wanted to risk it, now it has landed her in a problem that could've cost her seven years without freedom or a heavy fine.
 Well it's normal for people to give excuse for going against laws but in her case, "ignorance of the law is not an excuse" he's lucky to have a good legal team that helped bailed her. I believe this would serve as a lesson to other promoters/influencers in Hong Kong.

[knuckey]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

Everyone wants a lot of money quickly. Influencers are no exception. The problem is, their target is Asians, while in Asia, gambling in any form is generally prohibited. There's no definitive legality, only a few countries allow it with specific conditions. I think your point is correct. They deserve to be called trash influencers because they advertise without research. Influencers always have a significant impact on society, but they actually lead to more harm.