At the Annual General Meeting of The Hong Kong Jockey Club today (28 August), Voting Members re-elected four Stewards to the Board to serve further terms of three years each. They are Mr Philip N L Chen GBS JP, Mr Stephen Ip Shu Kwan GBS JP, The Hon Martin Liao GBS SBS JP and Mr Silas S S Yang JP.

Following the meeting, the new Board of Stewards re-elected Dr Anthony W K Chow SBS JP as Chairman and Mr Lester C H Kwok JP as Deputy Chairman.

The Club also announced its results for the 2018/19 financial year ended 30 June 2019. Despite a challenging economic environment, these enabled the Club to continue its strong support for the community. With overall wagering and lottery turnover of HK$247.5 billion (up 5.8%), the Club made a record return to the Government of HK$23.3 billion in duty and profits tax and contributed HK$1.3 billion to the Lotteries Fund. Approved charity and community donations were a record HK$4.3 billion.

Commenting on the results, Club Chairman Dr Anthony W K Chow said it had been another exceptional year for Hong Kong’s world-class sport of horse racing and for the Club’s commitment to the betterment of society. “This is made possible through the Club’s unique integrated business model of racing and racecourse entertainment, a membership club, responsible sports wagering and lottery, and charities and community contribution. It is this model, combined with the success of the Club’s business strategy, which has enabled the Club to make record returns to the community.”

Club continues to demonstrate world-class excellence

The Club's return to the community reflects the quality of its world-class racing and the strong performance of its responsible sports wagering and lottery services. Both racing and football turnover for the financial year set new records at HK$125.0 billion (up by 1.8%) and HK$114.1 billion (up by 10.7%), respectively. The strong football performance was partly due to the impact of the latter stages of the 2018 World Cup. Turnover on the Mark Six lottery was up by 4.3% to HK$8.4 billion.

The quality of Hong Kong racing was recognised in the 2018 international rankings, with 11 of the Club’s 12 international Group 1 races in the World’s Top 100 Group 1 races and 25 horses in the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings - this despite Hong Kong having just 0.7% of the world’s thoroughbreds in training. Among these was Beauty Generation, winner of an unprecedented eight Hong Kong races in 2018/19, including four international Group 1s, and who went on to spend six months at the top of the world rankings.

To incentivise horse owners to keep on investing in quality thoroughbreds, and also to attract top overseas horses to race in the city, next season overall prize money will rise to HK$1.3 billion. This includes substantial increases for the BMW Hong Kong Derby and for FWD Champions Day.

Equally vital to the Club’s success is its customer-centricity, where a particular focus is on making racing a unique social, sporting and entertainment experience. In this respect, the Club continued with its HK$7.0 billion racecourse revitalisation. It also maintained an active programme of raceday events, including international racing carnivals at Sha Tin and highly successful “Happy Wednesday” race night parties at Happy Valley, which are a top tourist attraction. Last season, total racecourse attendance was 2.2 million, a 3% increase on the previous year.

Conghua Racecourse, which opened in August 2018, represents the next stage of the Club’s journey to world-class excellence, providing it with additional capacity, training and horse care facilities. Conghua’s first year of operation proved an outstanding success, with horses training at Conghua scoring 109 victories on their return to Hong Kong. Conghua also hosted its first exhibition raceday, showcasing the potential of the Greater Bay Area as a centre of equine excellence.

Commingling – global expansion of the Club’s brand and customer base

Commingling, under which overseas fans wager on Hong Kong racing via overseas partners, continued to show strong growth, with turnover up 13.5% to HK$18.8 billion, representing 15% of total racing turnover for the season. Most significantly, the Club offered commingling on its first overseas race meeting, collaborating with Ascot, Totepool and other regular partners to offer the Ascot World Pool on the five days of Royal Ascot. As of next season, the Club will have over 40 commingling partners in 14 countries and jurisdictions.

“All this underlines how Hong Kong has become the global centre for commingling. Our world-class racing, competitive field sizes, high integrity, extensive racing information, state-of-the-art technology, and wagering pools with high levels of liquidity, have all made Hong Kong a leader in international wagering,” said Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.

Committed to the betterment of our society

The success of the Club’s business strategies has enabled it to provide ever higher levels of support for the community. In 2018/19, the Club contributed a record HK$23.3 billion in tax, equivalent to 6.8% of the total taxes collected by the Inland Revenue Department, while its Charities Trust approved HK$4.3 billion in donations to a record 294 projects. The Club now ranks among the world’s top ten charity donors.

These additional resources have enabled the Club to maintain its support across a broad range of community need, while also focusing on four strategic areas: youth; the elderly; sports; and arts, culture, and heritage. Through Trust-initiated projects, 13 of which are currently in progress, the Club is working with partner agencies to proactively address community needs, in some cases through piloting new and innovative approaches. It is also focusing on capacity building to help NGOs build their capabilities and access expertise and knowledge.

One of the Club’s largest projects, Tai Kwun ­– Centre for Heritage and Arts, celebrated its first anniversary in May. Hailed internationally and in Hong Kong as a model of heritage conservation, Tai Kwun received over 3.4 million visits in its first year of operation. Visitors were able to enjoy over 750 programmes and events and 800 heritage docent tours. The Club looks forward to the further development of Tai Kwun as one of Hong Kong’s most popular arts and heritage destinations.

The second Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum, held in September 2018, was a major opportunity for Hong Kong and international NGOs to share knowledge and expertise. Initiated by the Club in 2016, the forum brings together thought leaders from around the world with the aim of encouraging fresh thinking and forging new connections across the NGO community. This second edition attracted over 1,400 delegates and 67 distinguished speakers including two Nobel Laureates. Planning is already underway for the next forum in 2020.

Striding on for a better future 

Looking ahead, the uncertainty in the Hong Kong and global economies will continue to be challenging. Nonetheless the Club will maintain its focus on developing its business and investing for the future. With Conghua Racecourse now operational, the Club will move forward with the redevelopment of Sha Tin stables. Racecourse revitalisation will continue, as will work on a new customer information and wagering system. The Club also looks forward to the opening of the New Clubhouse at Happy Valley next year.

All of these efforts have one objective, and that is to ensure that the Club can both sustain and grow its business and thereby keep on fulfilling its purpose – the betterment of our society. 

The Hong Kong Jockey Club's 2018/19 Annual Report can be downloaded from the Club website at https://corporate.hkjc.com/corporate/english/history-and-reports/annual-18-19.aspx

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is a world-class racing club that acts continuously for the betterment of our society. The Club has a unique integrated business model, comprising racing and racecourse entertainment, a membership club, responsible sports wagering and lottery, and charities and community contribution. Through this model, the Club generates economic and social value for the community and supports the Government in combatting illegal gambling. In 2018/19, the Club made a record return to the Government of HK$23.3 billion in duty and profits tax and contributed HK$1.3 billion to the Lotteries Fund. Approved charity and community donations were HK$4.3 billion. The Club is Hong Kong's largest single taxpayer and one of the city’s major employers. Its Charities Trust is also one of the world's top ten charity donors. The Club is always "riding high together for a better future" with the people of Hong Kong.

Attachment: Results summary of The Hong Kong Jockey Club 2018/19