Hong Kong Racing Weathers the Storm

The 2019-2020 racing calendar in Hong Kong was widely referred to as a “season like no other,” and with good reason.

Racing was threatened first by significant social unrest in and around Hong Kong, on one occasion, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, no more than a few kilometres from the stables at Sha Tin Racecourse. Having canceled just one meeting due to the protests, the local racing product was later confronted by COVID-19, a pandemic that shut down operations–at least for a time–at the vast majority of worldwide racing jurisdictions. But Hong Kong racing proved resilient, with the season that concluded July 15 at Happy Valley Racecourse holding up extremely well under dire circumstances.

Though attendance was restricted to varying degrees from late January, overall turnover for the season of HK$121.6 billion was down by just 2.6% over the record 2018/2019 figure and was the third-highest recorded in history. The July 15 finale produced record turnover of HK$1.6 billion alone.

“This city shows time and time again that it has a remarkable 'Can-Do Spirit' and that has been apparent in the community as a whole, and also within racing,” said HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “It has been difficult, and it may continue to be so for some time yet, but by continuing racing we have shown Hong Kong's ability to face great challenges and overcome them.”

The turnover generated by Hong Kong bettors on the local product was understandably down by 8.3%, as the Hong Kong Jockey Club was forced to either close or offer barebones services at its 100 Off-Course Betting facilities in addition to the attendance restrictions at the racetracks. The overall handle figures were offset by commingling, which increased to HK$23.58 billion, a 25.3% improvement on last season. Hong Kong wagering on races simulcast into Hong Kong from overseas increased by 12.9%.

“We are pleased with how much interest our customers have in our simulcast programmes from the leading race meetings around the world,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “We saw this even more in the second World Pool at Royal Ascot, which proved a huge success–with individual race turnover up by more than 49% on 2019–and we look forward to expanding the World Pool concept next season, with Hong Kong as a vital hub for global wagering.”

The Hong Kong Jockey Club prides itself on contributing to the betterment of Hong Kong society at large. The Club, the city's largest tax payer, paid HK$12.113 billion to the government in 2019/2020, while a significant sum, including special emergency funding to battle COVID-19, was paid in charitable contributions to a wide range of entities.

Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “There was a compelling public interest element to our desire to continue racing through COVID-19, from Chinese New Year to the end of the season, during which time our tax contribution from racing was more than HK$6.2 billon. This has enabled us to not only keep donations at last year's level but also increase it due to our contributions via the COVID-19 Emergency Fund.”

Racing returns to Sha Tin Sept. 5.