View Full Version : Turnover on the 1st of Sept
The turnover today was very disappointing - worse than i imagined. So i guess the continuing recession, competion from other games and that 2 of HK's big computer teams have quit has caused the turnover to be way down on last year.
here the break down in 000's (if my addition is correct):
2/9/01 meeting 840,928.
1/9/02 meeting 758,200
so down 9.8%!!!!
According to HKJC's website, turnover for September 1 was $751,311,249, down almost 11% from last year. This is in spite of the fact that the no. of people who showed up at the Shatin track was actually up 22% from opening day last season.
They're off, but turnover takes a 10pc fall
NICK PULFORD, Racing Editor
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The Hong Kong Jockey Club yesterday suffered a more than 10 per cent fall in betting turnover at the first meeting of the new racing season.
Turnover on the nine races at Sha Tin was $751.3 million, by far the lowest in recent years. It was down from $841 million for last year's opening day, which was a 12 per cent drop on 2000's $959.8 million turnover.
In 1999, the first-day figure was $914.5 million, $931.8 million in 1998, $936 million in 1997 and $977.7 million in 1996.
Lawrence Wong, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's chief executive, said after yesterday's meeting: "Turnover has been lower than we expected and it is by far the lowest of recent years. There are many factors, but the main one is that the overall economy is hitting all sectors in the leisure and entertainment sectors."
He added: "This is only one day and it is difficult to forecast what will happen to turnover over the whole season. Actually there is not much of a correlation between what happens on the first day and the general trends in turnover, so we should not be too alarmist at this stage."
Last year's 12 per cent fall on opening day was not mirrored in the end-of-season figures, which saw turnover down four per cent to $78.159 billion - the fifth consecutive year-on-year fall from the record high of more than $92 billion in the 1996-97 season.
However, there was a ray of hope for the Jockey Club yesterday as attendance at the course rose to 46,302, an increase of more than 26 per cent on last year's crowd of 36,675.
The Jockey Club has spent $90 million on a revamp of Sha Tin and Mr Wong said: "The attendance is an encouraging sign. We need to attract race fans and the Jockey Club is committed to a programme of upgrading our services
corkey boy
02-09-2002, 22:52
Scarper, (or anyone) just how much of that 11% can be attributed to the departing computer teams ??
i would guess that 2 computer teams would add 2-3% to turnover - but this will be across a season and i wouldnt expect the season to be down 10%, so with that in mind they may be responsible for around 1/2 of the likely full season fall in turnover.....maybe.
the jockey club should look after its big customers!
Steppin Short
03-09-2002, 08:02
I read today that Lawrence Wong is blaming some of the loss on soccer betting. If Macau had not pulled out of the betting threat, I'd imagine that they would have been in there as well.
Over the past 12 months, a lot of the punters that I know, are switching to soccer betting as they feel it is easier to get a result. Main reason that have been put forward is that the handicapper in HK is doing too good a job and value is not there.
Any thoughts?
don scott
03-09-2002, 08:32
Hello Scarper, any ideas why the 2 of HK's ig computer teams have quit?
Where did they come from? Win or lose? Thanks.
Over the years its been sickning watching the JC blame everything & everyone for the drop in T/over , I wish they`d wake up & see that they themselves are to blame!
i actually think that most of the jc are doing a good job - the racing itself has improved alot and to my eye is amonst the most exciting i have seen anywhere. I dont think the handicapper has made all that much difference, as the win margins were only slightly lower last year than any time in the past 7 years, nor has the markets accuracy increased particularly. so punters using this excuse really mean the TAX RATE IS TOO HIGH and that betting on the SOCCER IS CHEAPER. Wong must make this very clear to the governemt and have them tax the HKJC on profits, allowing them to reduce the take to something competive around 10% or less. They should also bin ideas of starting soccer gambling which would really finish off the racing, due to the low tax rates that are standard in sports betting. although legalizing soccer gambling may increase overall tornover, at this time, and in the near future, i would be quite sure this would result in significantly reduced revenues.
[ September 03, 2002, 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Scarper ]
Sometimes I think the races are just too exciting. Losing margins of the 2nd placegetters on Sept 1:
R1 - short head
R2 - 1/2
R3 - 1/2
R4 - Nose
R5 - Head
R6 - 1/2
R7 - Head
R8 - 3/4
R9 - 1/2
Not a single race decided by a margin of more than one length!
One reason for the growing popularity of soccer betting over horse racing that I've not heard mentioned is that it places less demand on a punter's time.
The thing about playing the horses is that you have to spend a considerable amount of time preparing for the races, e.g. studying the form, watching morning trackwork on TV, watching race video replays. In HK, many companies are short staffed and those who have not been laid off have to work longer and longer hours. So many people simply don't have the time to do such work.
OTOH, most people probably don't spend that much time studying the form of a soccer match. They would just bet on the outcome of a match simply based on the impressions they've gained watching soccer on TV. And since there are only two teams in a match, they can still get the results right often enough to keep their interest alive.
i think we need a thread on soccer alone. will start one later today.
don scott
04-09-2002, 08:04
Bill Benter has quit HK racing. IS it true?
corkey boy
04-09-2002, 17:24
You're probably right masun but there's plenty of info (injuries, form of players, timetables of various competitions etc) that potential football punters can get their teeth into.
The infomation out there would not be at the punters finger tips as much as it is for HK racing (where the amount of info availabe is awesome) and this may lead to poor or innaccurate decisions.
Still, I agree that a two horse race that a football match appears to be, would on the surface, appeal to a lot of punters.
Corkey Boy, yes, there's plenty of info to be digested by the serious football punters but I suspect they are only a minority. I didn't know that much about soccer databases but I did some searches during the World Cup and was truly staggered by the amount of info available. However, most of the statistics compiled wouldn't really be all that useful unless you put them into some kind of statistical model.
Don old boy...it's been common knowledge for more than a month now that 2 teams packed their bags. And Benter is the big fish.
The JC should also be aware of this and should be bloody concerned. It's ridiculous for JC or the Govt to have anything against the bigger players. They should be welcomed with open arms and treated decently, not hounded. Surely for these organisations it should be all about turnover, so why worry about the big players? Let em take their chances.
[ September 04, 2002, 09:18 PM: Message edited by: lepper ]
don scott
05-09-2002, 07:43
Thank you lepper.
It's a pity the big fish has gone.
Turnover for 4 sep is $594,162,085!
I`m only a little fish but if the idiots down at the JC re-opened my telebet account i`d be turning over 10x more than what i do now...& there would be others like me.
jb if the turnover continues to drop I won't be too surprised if the JC re-opens your telebet account. Just make sure they know where to send the mail should they decide to do so!
don scott
06-09-2002, 00:36
JB, Masun, you need not to worry about how the Club sent you the mail.
The Club will not accept your application.
I just tried to get my account reopen, but in vain.
I just tried to get my account reopen, but in vain.
No wonder the turnover keeps falling.
I tried to reopen my telebet account at the end of last season but felt like i was going to be arrested.
Thats what makes me sick about the JC , they BLEAT about the T/over dropping but when SOME people go to bet they turn them away.
"Betting turnover was down again, but for the first time this season the Jockey Club's revenue managed to avoid a double-digit decrease. The first 10-race card of the season attracted $915 million in total bets, a fall of almost nine per cent from $1.05 billion at last year's Mid-Autumn Festival fixture and virtually the equivalent of losing a whole race's turnover from the 2001 figure.
Attendance, which has held up comparatively well this season, was also down yesterday. The crowd at Sha Tin was 27,070, also down by nine per cent on last year's 29,871."
alan aitken - SCMP - 23/09/02
i seem to remember another report that said t/over for the season to date was down 8% so one or the other is false. if all have been down more than 10% it is very bad.
rubbintug
03-10-2002, 01:23
Read this crap! - talk about "selective interpretation"
Billion reasons to be happy
NICK PULFORD
The Jockey Club declared its first 11-race meeting a success last night, after betting turnover broke the $1 billion mark for the first time this season and on-course attendance rose by 18 per cent on last year's National Day crowd.
Turnover was $1.099 billion, only a marginal increase on last year's $1.071 billion for a 10-race card, but Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Jockey Club's director of racing, said the figure justified the decision to hold 11 races.
"I am very happy with the turnover. OK, it is only $28 million more than last year when we had 10 races, but that is pretty much in the range we expect when we go up from nine to 10 races," he said.
"And the turnout was tremendous. The atmosphere was very good and once again we saw that our customers respond to good, competitive racing. "
The 11th race was added due to 27 entries being received for the National Day Cup, the feature event of the holiday card, with the overflow being accommodated in the Class One National Day Handicap won by Grand Delight.
"In the special circumstances we had this time, it was the right thing to do," Engelbrecht-Bresges said. "There has been some criticism in the press that the owners of the horses in the National Day Handicap were running for lower prizemoney than they would have been in the Cup, but I don't think there would be any complaint from Grand Delight's owner. "
On the possibility of an 11-race card being staged again, Engelbrecht-Bresges said: "Never say never, but it would have to be in similarly exceptional circumstances. "
Oh, and of course they didn't mention there was no TT carryover lure at the corresponding day last year. The TT yesterday attracted fresh money of $51.25m of which most would not have been there without a carryover. According to my rough calculations, after minusing most of the fresh money and also taking off approx $80m for the extra race - we still suffered a double figure decrease on the corresponding day last year!
yeah i agree - t/o still down about 10%, had they not included the 11th race.
But does this suggest that extra races will increase t.o?
would seem so if the quality is high enough.
Betting Turnover (HK$million):
2002/2003 -- (as at 30/10/02, 16 race meetings)
13,472.5
2001/2002 -- (as at 31/10/01, 16 race meetings)
14,694.6
this would indicate a decline of 8.3% which seems low given most of those i have read about exceeded 10%.
however after 20 race mtgs there have been 177 races this season c/f 168 last season. ON A PER RACE BASIS TURNOVER IS DOWN MORE LIKE 13% PER RACE
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