Hong Kong Jockey Club Investigates Turnover Decline in New Season
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is investigating why local racing turnover has fallen for the fifth time in six meetings this season, chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said after Sunday's card at Sha Tin, the South China Morning Post reported on 28 September 2026.
Local wagering on Sunday's 11-race card dropped 11.5% year-on-year to HK$1.359 billion. Engelbrecht-Bresges called the trend a concern, though he noted smaller field sizes early in the season, with some trainers holding horses back because of hot weather, are also a factor.
"Our team is looking at the moment what the reasons are," Engelbrecht-Bresges said. "We had some field size issues with the [Celebration Cup] — last time it was 14, this time nine."
He also said: "But the customers are much more selective and the last race was for the quality, disappointing - normally such a race would always be HK$190 [million], but it was HK$153 [million]."
Betting Patterns Softer
The Jockey Club said its customer base is similar to, or slightly ahead of, the same point last year, but head of racing product Greg Carpenter said average bet size has been "definitely very soft" across the first five fixtures of the season.
Engelbrecht-Bresges pointed to an increase in commingling and simulcast racing as a possible drag on local turnover, describing a "cannibalisation effect" as the club expands the range of betting sites-style pooled betting products on offer.
"This means we have to expand our customer base," Engelbrecht-Bresges said. "If we have races with five horses or six horses, it doesn't work. So we have to do a little bit more work."
The turnover concerns come as the Jockey Club deals with a government pause on granting a licence for regulated basketball betting, an area in which the club had already invested.
Engelbrecht-Bresges also said punters have complained about delays in the calculation of betting pools on the club's digital platforms, causing late odds movements.
Football Betting Leads The Way
The Jockey Club responded on Monday by announcing new betting options, including a six-up bet type for simulcast races and an additional six-up pool on the first six local races from 11 October, plus more double trio pools on designated simulcast meetings.
The Jockey Club is Hong Kong's single largest taxpayer, according to government figures, having paid more than HK$25 billion in betting duty in the 2021-22 financial year alone, equivalent to around 4% of total government revenue.
Football betting overtook horseracing as the club's largest source of turnover in 2021 and now accounts for more than half of total wagering, having grown far faster over the past decade than horserace betting, which has itself still expanded at a slower but steady pace.
