jack
17-06-2002, 19:12
Nick Pulford
Betting turnover declined four per cent during the 2001-02 season, with the World Cup soccer dealing a hefty final blow to the Jockey Club's finances over the last five meetings.
Overall turnover was $78.159 billion, down from $81.533 billion last season, which continued the season-on-season slide since the high of 1996-97, when turnover exceeded $92 billion. Lawrence Wong, the Jockey Club's chief executive, said the fall had accelerated since the World Cup began on May 31. Turnover had dropped more than 10 per cent this month, equating to a fall of almost $600 million from last season's final five race meetings. He said the Club had failed to prevent the fall in turnover, despite taking measures to combat the expected surge of interest in the World Cup.
"The Jockey Club did a thorough analysis of the impact of the World Cup and we predicted around a 10 per cent decline, so the figures are in line with that. There has been an adverse impact even taking into account that we increased the size of the Triple Trio pools this month and moved two of our fixtures to avoid clashes with big matches involving England and China.
"You can see around Hong Kong, if you look at many restaurants and bars on a Friday or Saturday night, that other businesses are feeling the effects of the World Cup, too.
"The Jockey Club views the decline in turnover with concern because of its negative effect on Hong Kong society," Wong said. "The Jockey Club continues to be the biggest contributor to tax revenue and the fall in turnover will have a direct impact on the Club's charity contributions, though we won't know the final figure until the end of this month."
Wong welcomed the Gambling Bill, which came into effect on World Cup opening day, but said it was too early to judge its effect in preventing Hong Kong citizens from betting with operators outside the SAR. "We will have to wait until next season to see if it will boost turnover, but we already have seen some offshore bookmakers withdrawing from the Hong Kong market, so we are hopeful that the Gambling Bill will help," he said. "In the longer term, however, we are still looking for a fundamental change in the tax structure on turnover, which will enable us to reduce the illegal bookmakers' price advantage."
The final-day figures were hit, with turnover down from $1.55 billion to $1.33 billion and on-course attendance at Sha Tin falling from 61,741 to 41,394. Overall attendance for the season was down almost 20 per cent from 2,709,956 to 2,350,519.
But Wong said it was not all gloomy. "If you look at other sectors of the economy, the performance could have been much worse. We have made further considerable progress this season towards our key objectives of providing world-class racing and establishing our International races in December as the turf world championships. We aim to build on that next season."
Betting turnover declined four per cent during the 2001-02 season, with the World Cup soccer dealing a hefty final blow to the Jockey Club's finances over the last five meetings.
Overall turnover was $78.159 billion, down from $81.533 billion last season, which continued the season-on-season slide since the high of 1996-97, when turnover exceeded $92 billion. Lawrence Wong, the Jockey Club's chief executive, said the fall had accelerated since the World Cup began on May 31. Turnover had dropped more than 10 per cent this month, equating to a fall of almost $600 million from last season's final five race meetings. He said the Club had failed to prevent the fall in turnover, despite taking measures to combat the expected surge of interest in the World Cup.
"The Jockey Club did a thorough analysis of the impact of the World Cup and we predicted around a 10 per cent decline, so the figures are in line with that. There has been an adverse impact even taking into account that we increased the size of the Triple Trio pools this month and moved two of our fixtures to avoid clashes with big matches involving England and China.
"You can see around Hong Kong, if you look at many restaurants and bars on a Friday or Saturday night, that other businesses are feeling the effects of the World Cup, too.
"The Jockey Club views the decline in turnover with concern because of its negative effect on Hong Kong society," Wong said. "The Jockey Club continues to be the biggest contributor to tax revenue and the fall in turnover will have a direct impact on the Club's charity contributions, though we won't know the final figure until the end of this month."
Wong welcomed the Gambling Bill, which came into effect on World Cup opening day, but said it was too early to judge its effect in preventing Hong Kong citizens from betting with operators outside the SAR. "We will have to wait until next season to see if it will boost turnover, but we already have seen some offshore bookmakers withdrawing from the Hong Kong market, so we are hopeful that the Gambling Bill will help," he said. "In the longer term, however, we are still looking for a fundamental change in the tax structure on turnover, which will enable us to reduce the illegal bookmakers' price advantage."
The final-day figures were hit, with turnover down from $1.55 billion to $1.33 billion and on-course attendance at Sha Tin falling from 61,741 to 41,394. Overall attendance for the season was down almost 20 per cent from 2,709,956 to 2,350,519.
But Wong said it was not all gloomy. "If you look at other sectors of the economy, the performance could have been much worse. We have made further considerable progress this season towards our key objectives of providing world-class racing and establishing our International races in December as the turf world championships. We aim to build on that next season."