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How is it to live there? Is there a large expat population of single twenty somethings? Any way to get a nice apartment for under $5k a month?
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It is to live here. Most expats are male senior managers and their families. You will find single twenty somethings hanging out in bars and clubs, usually, and they will be more uninhibited than the average person. If you are up to par with your PUA skills and reasonably attractive you shouldn't have any problem in this area.
It depends on what you want in a nice apartment. If you want a decent studio (~250 sqft usable) in the city centre you are looking at around $1.5-$2k a month. A decent apartment (~1000 sqft usable) in city centre will run around $5k a month. If you are willing to live remotely, ~30-40 minutes away from the centre, you can get an apartment like that for $2.5k or so.
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How far is Macau and do they spread regular poker there?
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Macau is an hour away by ferry. Immigration procedures for people with a HK identity card are trivial, and many people day-trip over the weekend.
Poker is spread on electronic tables at the Starworld casino. I believe Grand Lisboa plans to introduce real dealer tables. Knowing the quality of the dealers there, I think this will be a huge disaster.
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My questions about Hong Kong are:
Have you heard of anyone doing this in Hong Kong?
Are there areas where $0.50/hr is competitive pay?
Is there reliable internet connection in those areas?
Can you think of any other reasons Hong Kong would be good/bad for such a business?
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I have not heard of people running sweatshops in Hong Kong.
$0.50/hour is not competitive pay. Pay for unskilled manual labourers (e.g. Mcdonald's, dishwashers, couriers) starts from $2.50/hour. There is pressure to introduce minimum wage legislation as the current wages are deemed insufficient. Pay for administrative workers (e.g. secretaries, data entry, accounts clerk) starts from $1100/month.
There is reliable internet connection in Hong Kong. Other things Hong Kong has includes tap water, sewage systems, electricity, telephone service (fixed line AND mobile!), and natural gas. Hong Kong is considered a developed country. It has per capita GDP of around $37,000. Although the gini coefficient is high, living circumstances are decent for most people.
Perhaps you are thinking of MMORPG sweatshops in areas like Fujian or Chongqing?
Here is a representative photo of Hong Kong:
Here is not a representative photo of Hong Kong:
