HK updates, etc.

[NoChanceToDance]

Not really a racing update as such. It's about time we got to bet into their pools though.


UK punters could bet into HK pools next year

by Howard Wright

BRITISH punters could be betting straight into Hong Kong's huge raceday pools by this time next year, according to Hong Kong Jockey Club chief Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, who revealed that he has been talking to British betting operators, including major bookmakers such as Ladbrokes, about the prospect.

He said: “We have had some very good discussions but first we have to concentrate on technical issues, and that could take another six months.

“I'm encouraged that we could be thinking of a proper product launch for co-mingling from the UK and around the world soon after the start of our 2008-9 season, say in September.”

The idea would be to promote Hong Kong's exotic-bet pools, Engelbrecht-Bresges said, pointing out that the triple trio was staged every raceday with a guaranteed pool of around £550,000, and the jackpot grossed £1 million every other week.

He added: “Our great differential with the rest of the world is the size of our pools, so where we have the chance to stress that differential, we want to take it.” Engelbrecht-Bresges admitted that the co-mingled contribution from overseas punters might be small in the first instance, compared with the size of the pool.

However, he added: “This is all about branding and differentiation, commercially and internationally. It's about a marquee product, with superior information that no other racing jurisdiction in the world provides on a 78-meeting programme. We don't want to be number 22 or 23 on the list of products you might find in a UK betting shop.”

Hong Kong will be offering live pictures on the co-mingled races; they need to be shown in betting shops for maximum effect, and that means talking to bookmakers and SIS.

Prospects for live UK racing being shown on any significant scale in Hong Kong are less bright, partly becauseof time differences but largely because Engelbrecht-Bresges and his team are still trying to persuade the government to increase from just ten races the amount of overseas racing allowed to be shown.

He said: “At the moment, these ten races have to beon days when we are racing, but the government has accepted that some flexibility is needed, and I hope we will soon be allowed to bring in races from abroad on non-racedays.”