HKJC TURNOVER.

[hobbes]

96/97 SEASON $92.353B 595 RACES > 155.215M/RACE
01/02 SEASON $78.159B 675 RACES > 115.791M/RACE
02/03 SEASON $13.472B 141 RACES > 95.550M/RACE
http://www.asianracing.nu/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000111
decline over 5 years to end of last season = -25.4%.
a per race basis turnover this season is down a further 13% from last season giving a cumulative decline since 96/97 of 35.1% per race.

[jb]

The T/over is dropping in most places around the world but this would have to be one of the worst cases ?
How far will it drop when sports betting comes in & what about Betfair getting a foot in the door ?

[hobbes]

Wednesday, January 8, 2003 -- ON THE RAILS -- ALAN AITKEN

Hong Kong racing emerged from 2002 celebrating its ascension to a credible force at international level and that probably blanked out any negatives for the year. Now the streamers and fireworks are over and, for the time being, the weeks and months ahead hold, if not the resolution of, at least a continuing guide to some extremely vital fundamental issues.

With turnover continuing to decline at around 10 per cent, it will remain the most closely watched aspect of Hong Kong's racing, however much the Jockey Club might hope that attention is focused on the horses and the racing and new-fangled ways of interpreting it.

The Club has already enhanced its televised coverage in the New Year with the excellent distance markers in the straight and we will have all the extra knowledge imaginable with the Star Wars timing system of STRIDE to come soon. Yet, as far as this writer has ever witnessed, clubs throughout the world may prefer to be thought of as entertainment outlets, but betting greases all the wheels and a problem with the dollars will always get more attention than the most stirring of photo finishes.

If that double digit-drop continues through to the end of this term, it would be the largest, and an acceleration, of the falls which have occurred annually since 1997. A continued decline of even that magnitude is still unlikely to have any negative impact on things like prizemoney or livery charges, but could cause more noticeable inroads into what ends up back in the pockets of government and charities. And in a difficult time for all, there will be increased pressure from those institutions to maintain levels.

Last year, turnover did seem to kick off badly then find its way back to the pre-season forecast of a four per cent drop by January, then maintain that through the rest of the season.

That has not been the case this time around and the Club will come into the second half of 2002-2003 with a consistent drop since September and everything to do if the final result is to be anything less awful.

Then racing will face a new bogey in the early months of next season - Jockey Club-run soccer betting which will become the largest new piece of the turnover puzzle. Some professional high-rollers estimate the negative effect on race betting will lead to a further 20-25 per cent reduction.

The other equally important betting issue will be restructuring the Club's taxation from a turnover tax to a profit and loss tax to allow a more versatile takeout from the wagering pools. Because of the way soccer betting will have to work in order to really "work", issues around soccer betting and tax restructuring are going to be cousins, if not even more closely related.

A freer tax structure would, in theory, allow the Club to quash illegal rivals and attract more professional money with lower takeout rates. But theory shmeory, it may take a brave act to move to lower the takeout in the face of continuing 10 per cent falls.

In the good news basket, we are hoping the Club is right to highlight the horses following that fine international meeting, but we are careful to err on the side of caution. Remember, the Japanese horses had won four of the last five international races in Hong Kong before December 15 and returned with zero from it.

Hong Kong racing may have come of age on December 15, but beware the hangover. Having the key to the door is not the same as being able to turn it.

Never let it be said the Jockey Club is prepared to call the job done, though, and we hope that owners and trainers will heed the call to race abroad and take the message of good news for modern Hong Kong racing. We hope and expect that this will become a more frequent and noteworthy aspect of Hong Kong racing, with more trainers joining the usual suspects in "playing away" at the top level.

The Macau Question remains, too. What arrangement, if any, will be agreed by the clubs on both sides will make an interesting undercard during the next few months. Despite a few grunts and animal noises in August, Macau has been remarkably soft on the issues causing massive damage to its turnover following Hong Kong's law changes.

Talks continue at glacial pace, but there is still the potential for the smaller club to go feral, operate on Hong Kong racing without its blessing and slice further chunks off its turnover. The latest development has been no more than more moves to continue discussions, although there has been scuttlebutt that Macau and Hong Kong will become agents for each other's betting pools. We can't quite see what's in it for Hong Kong, but after the Macau-trained Royal Treasure and Stanley Ho-owned Thunder were able to find there way into the big races on International Day, well, anything's possible.

We have seen a seamless transfer of judicial control to new chief stipe Jamie Stier, but another department may not be as calm. The mild skirmish over vet issues which occurred during International week has the potential to blow up this month, as it did in January last year, with each side of the arguments having pinned the other's name to the fridge door under the heading "Axis Of Evil".

[cheesebeast]

RACING
Selling the world-class product will prove a very smart move

MURRAY BELL

One good news story recently has been the commitment of the Jockey Club to take its world-class product to the international masses in what will amount to a series of joint ventures with overseas totalisators. The Club cleverly used the media to announce its future intentions of having foreign punters betting into its big exotic pools, particularly the Triple Trio. Suddenly, it was receiving correspondence from agencies all over the world without having actually approached anyone.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said the response from overseas had been "substantial", and a project team had now been charged with ensuring the integrity of the co-mingled betting pools will be maintained to Hong Kong's cutting-edge standards.


The move to expand the customer base is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it confirms that the highbrow, superior attitude of the Jockey Club in days gone by has given way to a more sophisticated, realistic and worldly business outlook. There is obviously a growing acceptance at Happy Valley headquarters that the Club is no longer immune to the market forces that shape the rest of the world.

Secondly, it shows the betting business in Hong Kong is maturing. This is the world's number one racing-wagering product and the Club would be negligent in its stewardship of the business if it did not seek to broaden its customer base.

Thirdly, the move to access new international markets is important for the way history will see the current leadership, which has done so much to boost the quality of racing in so many ways. However, while all that has been going on, betting turnover has been dropping. The past five years have seen gross wagering turnover decline by 22 per cent and this year will see another substantial decrease, with the impact of Sars making it even worse.

Whatever role the Club may have played behind the scenes with the introduction in May last year of the Gambling Ordinance, which decimated wagering levels on Macau, it would have been bitterly disappointed to find the outlawed wagering volume did not come back its way.

And horse racing turnover is still to face its biggest obstacle. Ironically, the enemy will come from within next season as legalised soccer betting begins to cannibalise turnover on the gallops. When that occurs, the Club will have presided over seven successive years of negative growth. And our friends betting from foreign lands will never have seemed so welcome.

[jb]

I`m DESPERATE to start betting right now - when is the JC going to get off there arse ?

The JC is full of slackers & idiots , they need to identify them sack em & put someone in who can actually start the ball rolling.

[imaufo]

Murray Bell does some good pieces. Although diplomatic, it appears that he tries to tell the story as it is.

However, Im sure that the "sophisticated, realistic and worldly business outlook" of the HKJC would be doubted by the biggest account holders whose turnover would equal the missing 22 per cent and who have been persecuted by the HKJC for so long.

[Scarper]

are they going to start seperate pools or will the money be redirected to the HK pools? ie guess the TT suggest the money will be redirected up here from the accounts held with overseas tote operators. they couldnt open HK accounts thats for sure.

so maybe you just need to open up an account with the TAB downunder JB!!! sounds perfect - no need for all those big punteres to face the IRD in HK if they can bet from places where they dont tax winning punters.

if the money ends up in the HK pools i hope they bet a fortune!

still cant help thinking all this good neighbour is hypocrtical and a heap of shit! HK gains rest of the world loses. Aussie racing may get hit hardest?

[jb]

Certainly sounds perfect if it ever gets off the ground ?

[hobbes]

Wednesday, April 30, 2003 -- HK stands to benefit from all this 'badness' -- MURRAY BELL, Racing Editor
__
A news story in the Business section of the Post caught my attention the other week. It featured a doctor who had gone beyond prescriptions and pathology and successfully learned the art of trading shares and futures. He would log on to the Internet around 5am each day to check his investments on the international markets and acquire relevant information before making critical buy/sell decisions. This simple process, acted out by thousands of people all around the world every day, begs a number of questions: How does this doctor's thoroughly legitimate use of his intellect and training for profit on the markets differentiate him from educated players on horse racing? Why is he an investor-trader but one who attempts to capitalise on price vagaries in racing is a "gambler"? Why is he "astute" when he gains an edge while a punter looking for a similar advantage in horse racing is "greedy"?


Why can our medico friend freely trade on the New York, Tokyo, Sydney or London exchanges while racing traders are guilty of some vague form of criminality if they do the same thing?

What makes it legal and admirable for the good doctor to click his way to a profit on foreign exchange markets while a bet in any form on Saturday's Kentucky Derby - one of the world's great horse races - is illegal?

And finally, how would our doctor feel if the government took 18 per cent off the top of his transactions? Do you think it might make a wee bit of difference to his bottom line?

Of course, any mainstream investor who had to pay an 18 per cent transaction tax would think twice. But punters are forced to live with this level of taxation, week in, week out - and when they even think about doing something about it, they are branded "greedy" by certain racing authorities (who are almost always non bettors).

Wagering on Hong Kong racing has been in decline for five years. Turnover has contracted 22 per cent during that time, but the per-race contraction is even greater because there are more races to bet on now.

This season, the decline continues, with turnover each meeting somewhere between 10 and 20 per cent lower than the equivalent meeting last year. The government's response to an industry in decline, as semaphored in Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung's Budget, was to raise the tax on exotic bets.

They called it a one per cent increase, which is actually a lie because going from 18 per cent tax to 19 per cent is a 5.6 per cent increase in anyone's ledger.

While Jockey Club chairman Ronald Arculli, the consummate politician, was positioning his organisation to educate all levels of government on the very real need for tax relief on wagering, Leung blew it by going for an increase instead. Was that arrogance or ignorance?
The Jockey Club is one of the great institutions of the world, not just Hong Kong. It already contributes over 11 per cent of gross taxation to the SAR and is the biggest single benefactor to hospitals, charities, scholarships and worthwhile causes. Its stewards and top 200 members represent the upper elite of Hong Kong society. And its business is wagering.

The government needs to get over its sadly outdated and (it has to be said) cynical view that gambling is inherently bad, but getting so much money from this "badness" is inherently good.
It needs to understand that top-quality racing, as Hong Kong showcases every week at Happy Valley and Sha Tin, is actually an international business and a legitimate trading vehicle, because of its high level of predictability.

Just look at Queen Elizabeth II Cup day, where all three feature races were won by favourites - a magnificent showcasing of Hong Kong's leading edge racing-wagering product.

And the Hong Kong government needs to understand this truth: that if the racing-wagering market opens up to the greater world like mainstream financial markets have done, Hong Kong will ultimately be a substantial net beneficiary.

[hobbes]

SCMP -- alan aitken -- 14/05/03

Total misunderstanding of the biggest customers on Hong Kong racing led to brow-beating, secret investigations, and account closures - and now, to many of them departing Hong Kong racing during the past two years.

The smaller punters will soon be the only ones left and all efforts should be made to preserve their participation, so the club can continue to bleat about handing over the punters' money to good charitable works.

[jb]

Reading this makes me want to puk.....the JC keep blaming everything & everyone but themsleves!.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jockey Club counts cost of Sars outbreak
Betting is down $6.7b, raising concerns for charitable causes

ALAN AITKEN, JIMMY CHEUNG, LOUISA YAN and CHEUNG CHI-FAI

Lawrence Wong: a difficult year

The Sars crisis has contributed to the biggest crash in betting turnover in Hong Kong Jockey Club history, sparking warnings that its contributions to charity and government coffers will be affected.
Jockey Club chief executive Lawrence Wong yesterday revealed the full impact of Sars just as Hong Kong prepared to be taken off the list of affected countries by the World Health Organisation at 3pm today, a move that will mark victory over the crisis and boost a growing sense of recovery.

"The economic situation, the Sars crisis and illegal gambling combined to make this a difficult year," Mr Wong said.

"As far as Sars is concerned, this was a factor which impacted directly on our attendance and our turnover. It could not have been anticipated and our business has suffered from Sars just as other entertainment businesses suffered."

Yesterday's final meeting at Sha Tin returned the highest turnover figure for the season of $1.3 billion and the second highest Triple Trio payout ever.

But total betting for 2002-03 finished down by almost $6.7 billion at $71.4 billion, a drop of 8.5 per cent and more than double the 4 per cent fall in 2001-02.

Mr Wong said the club would dip into reserves if needed to ensure Hong Kong's biggest charitable donor kept its contributions above $1 billion. The figure, however, is expected to be less than last year's.

Government revenues also will be hit, with estimates of betting and lotteries duties and profit taxes down $824 million to $10.9 billion.

"I want to say that we will continue our commitment to the needy," Mr Wong said.

His comments came as Hong Kong yesterday again reported no new Sars infections - a key factor in meeting the 20 Sars-free days criteria for being removed from the WHO's infected list. The number of infections and deaths remained at 1,755 and 296 respectively.

Government officials said detailed measures to boost tourism would be unveiled today but no official celebrations would be staged.

It is understood that the Tourism Board is to launch a mega event named "Colours and Sparkles", a six-month drive to lure tourists back to the city with different highlights each month.

Last Friday, the group headed by Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung to revitalise the ailing economy also finalised its recovery blueprint.

Some of the initiatives, such as inviting overseas soccer teams and international sportsmen, have already been announced but sources said the group was prepared to make a comprehensive announcement soon after Hong Kong was dropped from WHO's list.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley said: "I think Hong Kong people should celebrate. This is excellent news for Hong Kong."

But he urged people not to let down their guard. "We don't know enough about this virus. It might come back in the cold season, just like the flu,'' he said.

Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping yesterday said the government should not celebrate because so many people had died and others were still in hospital.

Local education authorities announced that masks were no longer necessary in schools once Hong Kong had been removed from the WHO list.

Hong Kong Hotels Association executive director James Lu said hotel staff would no longer be required to wear masks unless they had respiratory diseases.
bold Reading this makes me want to puk.....the JC keep blaming everything & everyone but themsleves!.

[Fat Bastard]

Couldn't agree more there JB. But I must say I was expecting a bigger drop in the turnover. With some big punters gone and all the other excuses, some fair and some fanciful, I was tipping more than 15% down?

[cheesebeast]

Pass the bucket JB.

I have yet to see the Jockey Club make any attempt to reverse falling turnover, they seem to do the ostrich trick of burying their heads in the sand and say it's not our fault yet they carry out witchhunts on their biggest customers. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Best they pull their fingers out of their bums and ensure punters from overseas are able to bet into HKJC pools sooner rather than later.

[Homer J.]

June 23, 2003



Jockey Club announces pay review results


The Hong Kong Jockey Club today announced pay adjustments for its 4,200-member full-time staff, effective 1 October 2003. The adjustment is a result of the Club's annual pay review.



The main features of the pay adjustment initiative endorsed by the Board of Stewards are as follows:



-A 10% cut in basic pay for the senior management, including the Chief Executive and the Executive Directors;

-An 8% cut in basic pay for management grade staff;

-The abolishment of the 13th-month pay for other employees, including staff, catering and manual grades.

[cheesebeast]

From SCMP

http://hongkong.scmp.com/hknews/ZZZRPMJ67JD.html

Mark Six turnover rises 26pc

ERNEST KONG

Bets on the Mark Six lottery over the past year increased more than 26 per cent compared with the previous 12 months, according to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
A club spokeswoman said Mark Six turnover from July 2002 to June 2003 had risen to $5.085 billion, compared with $4.023 billion from July 2001 to June 2002.

She said the three highest turnovers for single draws this year were all over $100 million. The highest, $139.2 million, was for the January 28 draw.

The July 26 draw, which had a first prize of $65 million, attracted $118.3 million in wagers.

The figures were released after a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday reported that the Jockey Club was planning to make Saturday a regular day for the lottery.

The plan, if implemented, would add 20 draws a year.

The Jockey Club yesterday declined to comment on the report.

The Mark Six lottery has contributed more than $24 billion to the government's coffers and the charitable Lotteries Fund since its introduction in 1975.