Jockey Club’s Fiscal Year 23: 5% Growth Fueled by Football Betting & Lottery

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has declared again another record-breaking year for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. Total revenue climbed 5.1% year on year to HK$304.8 billion (US$38.9 billion). This considerable increase is mostly due to increased contributions from both football betting and the Mark Six Lottery.

While racing turnover was stable at HK$140.4 billion (US$17.9 billion), football turnover increased by 9.1% to HK$156.9 billion (US$20.0 billion), and Mark Six Lottery turnover increased by 29.2% to HK$7.56 billion (US$964 million).

Despite what The HKJC called a difficult year, with the first seven months greatly hit by the epidemic and ensuing economic slowdown, the Club achieved outstanding results. According to macroeconomic trends, the business environment will remain “very difficult” for the foreseeable future.

Racing turnover increased by 0.5% to HK$141.1 billion (US$18.0 billion) for the 2022.23 racing season (which does not coincide with the fiscal year), with HKJC receiving HK$6.4 billion (US$816 million) from racing wagering. Despite a 1.3% fall in local turnover on Hong Kong racing, the Club’s aim of expanding its consumer and income base by exporting its world-class racing worldwide through commingling countered this decrease.

As a result, commingling on Hong Kong racing grew by 3.0% to HK$25.4 billion (US$3.24 billion), accounting for 19.6% of total Hong Kong racing turnover for the season.

The World Cup and the debut of The HKJC’s new customer information and wagering system, which permitted the introduction of new In Play bet kinds to compete with the illegal market, contributed to the increase in football betting turnover. However, due to an increase in the Special Football Betting Duty, football income remained steady at HK$9.8 billion (US$1.25 billion).

The HKJC made a record contribution to the community of HK$35.9 billion (US$4.58 billion), including HK$28.6 billion (US$3.65 billion) in betting duty, profits tax, and Lotteries Fund contributions, as well as HK$7.3 billion (US$931 million) in approved charity donations.

“Through resilience and agility, the Club performed extremely well during the pandemic, but there is no doubt that the post-pandemic environment is proving equally challenging, with the economy likely to be highly volatile for some time to come,” said CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “In these circumstances, the Club’s exceptional performance last year was only possible because of its strategy to develop world-class racing and export it overseas via commingling.”

Original Story by Ben Blaschke for iag