Jockey Club investigates declining local turnover at start of new season

The Jockey Club is investigating reasons for declining local turnover to start the new season, which chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges labelled a concern.

Local wagering on Sunday’s 11-race card at Sha Tin dropped 11.5 per cent on last year to HK$1.359 billion – the fifth time local turnover was down from six meetings so far this term.

While field sizes tend to be an issue this early in the season, with some trainers holding back their horses because of the hot weather, the decline in turnover has become a concerning trend in the eyes of Engelbrecht-Bresges.

“Our team is looking at the moment what the reasons are,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said after Sunday’s Sha Tin meeting.

“We had some field size issues with the [Celebration Cup] – last time it was 14, this time nine. 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].”

The turnover issue comes as the Jockey Club deals with the fallout of the delay to regular racing at Conghua because of the latest “risk assessment from the relevant mainland departments” and the government’s pause on granting a licence for regulated basketball betting, which it had already invested substantially in.

While the Jockey Club said the customer base was similar to 12 months ago, head of racing product Greg Carpenter said the average bet size was “definitely very soft” in the first five fixtures.

Engelbrecht-Bresges said an increase to commingling and simulcast races could have a “cannibalisation effect” on turnover.

“This means we have to expand our customer base,” he said.

“The customer base from all the data we have is similar to last year, even a bit better, but it’s more product. Maybe overall, we are still OK, but I don’t like it if we don’t have sufficient liquidity in the local races.

“Even the commingling, you’ll see we need a better product. If we have races with five horses or six horses, it doesn’t work. So we have to do a little bit more work.

“There’s a certain level now with more product and that is always my concern – what’s the optimal number of product can we have? Or, you have to expand your customer base and we have not – it’s similar to last year.”

Engelbrecht-Bresges also said punters had expressed frustration over late odds movements because of delays to the calculation of betting pools on the club’s digital platforms.

The Jockey Club moved quickly by announcing a range of new betting options on Monday, including a six up bet type for simulcast races and an additional six up pool on the first six local races, starting from October 11.

Six up pools will be available on simulcast meetings with six or more races, starting with the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day’s six Group One races on October 4. There will also be more double trio pools available on designated simulcast meetings.