In a bustling Hong Kong district, some internet cafes are shifting beyond their role as gaming hubs.
Inside one such venue in Mong Kok, gamers can rent one of two private booths for about HK$200 a night. With a look that can only be described as “emergency bunker”, the metal-walled rooms come equipped with a high-end gaming desktop, a sofa bed, budget-friendly food and self-service laundry facilities.
Customers can even enjoy a hot shower for just HK$9 extra, while a set of disposable hygiene products – including a toothbrush, toothpaste and slippers – costs about HK$28.80.
But such venues risk falling foul of the law, as internet cafe operators need a hotel or guest house licence to let customers stay overnight.
Since March, the government has investigated 11 internet cafes, some of which were suspected of providing illegal accommodation services. Authorities have vowed to prosecute any related cases.
“The rooms and facilities are cleaner and more advanced than those in mainland China … What if I just want to have a short rest or play for the whole night?” said Baptist University student Zhong Yuan.
The 21-year-old added that he visited the internet cafe once every week or two, but had yet to stay overnight in one of the booths.
In a bid to bring internet cafes under formal oversight, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau recently put forward two regulatory pathways.
The first option would put the venues under the Amusement Game Centres Ordinance.
It would subject them to a formal licensing regime and unified statutory requirements covering fire precautions and structural safety.
The other pathway would allow internet cafes to apply for licence exemptions, similar to the system used for esports venues.
To qualify, operators must pass strict government inspections covering structural safety, electrical wiring, fire prevention and ventilation.
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak Mei-kuen said that stakeholder feedback so far favoured granting exemptions, which would offer greater flexibility.
Lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said that illegal overnight accommodation in some internet cafes was unfair to licensed hotels, which face stringent criteria to obtain their permits.
“The boundary between simply playing games and overnight accommodation should be much clearer in regulation,” he said.
