HK’s enduring love affair with the race track
Print Edition
TRACKS and betting shops overflow twice a week in Hong Kong thanks to the city’s enduring horse racing tradition — with crowds of tourists and expats going along for the ride.
Hong Kong has two racecourses, Happy Valley and Sha Tin, with meets on Wednesday and Sundays drawing hardcore enthusiasts glued to form guides, and casual visitors more interested in a cold beer than the horses.
Gambling takings reached a record HK$107.9 billion (US$13.9 billion) last year, with the number of betting accounts growing.
But officials are predicting a rare dip in revenues this year as the size of bets shrinks due to a regional economic slowdown.
Takings are 1 to 2 percent down on this time last year, says Anthony Kelly, racing business executive director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
If the trend continues, 2016 will see the first annual decline in the club’s racing turnover since the global financial crisis of 2008.
“They (racegoers) haven’t got quite so much money in their pockets to spend,” says Kelly.
An aging population is also problematic.
“The core audience is getting old. One of the challenges we have to manage here is how you get younger people to be interested in horse racing.”
The nonprofit Hong Kong Jockey Club is the only legal betting outfit in the city and runs the two racecourses as well as 100 betting shops under a government licence.
Massive proceeds from 83 race days per year have made the club the city’s largest single taxpayer, with more than HK$10 billion handed to public revenues annually as well as charity donations.
Race day stalwarts are predominantly men and tend to be an older crowd. Now the club wants to build on the racing scene’s growing reputation as a good, cheap night out to boost its popularity into the future.
At the Happy Valley racecourse, set against a towering city skyline, serious gamblers keep an eagle eye on TV screens in brightly-lit betting halls.
In contrast, at outdoor tables trackside there is a party atmosphere, where mainly expats and tourists gather to chat, drink, eat and occasionally bet on a whim — often determined by a horse’s name, or the colour of a jockey’s jersey.
A Latin music band performs in the breaks as models pose in front of an exhibit of luxury sports cars.
“It gives you some adrenaline when the horses take off. It gives you goose bumps,” said Belgian tourist Stephanie Briessinck, a first-time visitor who did not bet.
“The crowd is nice and the atmosphere is very nice. I like it a lot,” she said.
The Jockey Club bills these race nights as “Happy Wednesdays,” and promotes them on the city’s official tourism website.
Kelly says the club has been investing in racecourse facilities to attract a wider crowd.
An entrance fee of HK$10 also makes access inexpensive to visitors, he says.
“It’s a little fun and it’s a little bit of escapism,” Kelly said.
But amateur experts — who tend to be bigger bettors — are still the mainstay of the sport.
Leung Kwok-kwong, 52, has been a regular racegoer for 20 years, spending around HK$5,000 a time.
“Holding the form guide makes you feel alive... It is part of my life. I’d feel empty without it,” said the construction contractor, a father of three, on a night out at Happy Valley.
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