The Hong Kong Jockey Club saw an impressive financial year ending June 30th, as total wagering and lottery turnover increased by 5 percent yearly to HK$320.26 billion ($41.08 billion).
The group announced the results following its annual general meeting on August 29th.
Of the total amounts wagered, those wagered by local customers rose by 4.6 percent yearly to HK$286.52 billion ($36.75 billion).
Of the total amounts wagered, some HK$104.84 billion ($13.45 billion) was bet by local customers on horse races, up by nearly 1 percent yearly. That brought total horse race betting revenue for the HKJC to HK$17.73 billion ($2.27 billion), a slight drop year-on-year.
For football betting, the amount wagered rose to a new record high of HK$172.82 billion ($22.17 billion), up by an impressive 7.83 percent, and boosting revenue for the jockey club from the segment to HK$21.85 billion ($2.8 billion) – up by 3.68 percent.
Regarding the Mark Six lottery, the total amount wagered during the financial year was HK$8.99 billion ($1.15 billion), up by 5 percent, while lottery revenue totaled HK$4.13 billion ($530 million), an increase of 5.05 percent.
Total betting and lottery revenue for the group amounted to HK$43.75 billion ($5.61 billion), up by just 1.4 percent.
In total, 73 percent of the HKJC’s betting and lottery revenue is returned to Hong Kong.
Basketball wagering anticipated
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has been highly anticipating the SAR government’s move to legalize basketball betting, with the HKJC to act as the sole licensee (the same as for football betting).
Speaking of the government’s initiative, HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges noted that “With the necessary amendments to the Betting Duty Ordinance in progress as at the time of this report, we look forward to providing the service as directed. Certainly, given our proven experience launching football betting in 2003 and the efficiency of our single license operating model, we believe we are well placed to provide the service”.
Hopes are that the new legislation could be passed as early as October of this year.
In anticipation the CEO notes that “Should regulated basketball betting receive legislative assent we will need to make a substantial up-front investment in basketball betting systems and customer experience, which will take multiple years to fully recover”.
However, annual turnover of authorized basketball betting is anticipated to generate as much as HK$28 billion ($3.57 billion), with the betting duty set at 50 percent of the net stake receipts.
