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Hong Kong horse racing loses to World Cup

whyte
Douglas Whyte won the trophy for the jockey with the best record, netting HK$64 million for the season  


By Alex Frew McMillan

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- The list of surprise losers and winners out of the soccer World Cup grows longer by the day.

Hong Kong's racehorses have joined the ranks of shock losers, in an upset to match Italy's ousting at the hands of South Korea.

Hong Kong horse racing runs unopposed when it comes to licensed gambling in Hong Kong. The only other legal avenue is the Mark Six lottery, also run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

But the race season ended on Sunday with a drop in both total betting and in attendance. The turnstiles turned 13 percent less frequently than the prior year.

A 26 percent decline during soccer

More troubling for the Jockey Club, the total turnover wagered fell 4 percent, to HK$78.1 billion ($10.0 billion).

korea celebration
Total attendance fell 26 percent during World Cup soccer games, even though soccer betting is illegal in Hong Kong  

Most of the punters, of course, come away losers. But one lucky better at Sha Tin won Hong Kong's second-highest payout in history on the last day, netting HK$110.1 million ($14.1 million) on an accumulator ticket.

There were the same number of meetings as last season, 78 in all. But five of this year's race meets fell during soccer World Cup matches.

Italy's multimillionaire soccer stars tumbled to an early exit in the World Cup on Tuesday, losing 1-2 in extra time to South Korea (full story).

A CNN poll, as of Wednesday, shows 93 percent disagree with Italian assertions that the referee was to blame (full story).

There's a tongue-in-cheek case that Hong Kong's horses are billionaires, given the $10 billion that rode on their backs this season.

Whyte notches up winnings of $8M

The riders certainly earn millions for their trainers -- first-placed jockey Douglas Whyte had winnings of HK$63.5 million ($8.1 million) for the season.

World-class jockeys such as Frankie Dettori raced at the mid-year international race day, the season's top day (full story).

officiials
Wong (l) says that the drop in turnover is 'cause for concern' and stems from illegal and offshore bookmakers  

And while Italy blames the referee, the Jockey Club fingers soccer and illegal bookmaking operations.

Race attendance fell 26 percent during the World Cup matches. That meant HK$600 million ($77 million) in lost turnover, according to the Jockey Club.

Hong Kong's deflation-mired and recession-bound economy may have dissuaded gamblers. And stock-market turnover at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange also showed a marked decline during the games.

Jockey Club CEO Lawrence Wong said he traces the smaller book to "the sluggish performance of the economy and the effects of illegal gambling, particularly the upsurge in sports gambling with illegal and offshore bookmakers."

Yet on U.S. markets, "sin stocks" that involve gambling, drinking, smoking and the like in fact tend to gain during recessions, because the demand is fairly constant -- "inelastic," as economists say.

Turnover 'cause for concern'

Wong says lower turnover is "cause for concern." The Jockey Club is one of the largest land developers in Hong Kong. Total betting tax to the government fell HK$780 million to HK$11.7 billion.

Police enforcement of illegal gambling has stepped up a gear over the World Cup. Soccer betting is legal in the casinos of Macau, one hour away by ferry, but it is barred in Hong Kong.

But it certainly happens. The Hong Kong police department has stepped up its surveillance of venues showing the games and is conducting raids it alleges target illegal gambling dens.

"Since mid-April 2002, over 90 people were arrested in connection with illegal soccer betting activities," spokeswoman Seiko Ho stated. "Over HK$60 million worth of soccer betting slips were seized so far."

That's likely a fraction of the total. Small wagers with friends are condoned in Hong Kong, if not entirely official, as is the widespread betting on the game mah jong.

China's World Cup ended without a goal and without a point, in the country's first time in the competition. Its bettors likely fared worse, unless they backed the other team.



 
 
 
 


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