Following its Annual General Meeting, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has announced its results for the 2023/24 financial year, ended 30 June 2024.
The Club reportedly faced significant external challenges during the year, including the macro-economic environment, the increasing threat of illegal gambling and rising competition from Macau casinos. Above all, a fundamental post-pandemic shift in consumer behaviour in favour of new digital experiences and outbound travel impacted race-going and racing wagering. In consequence local racing wagering turnover for the racing season (10 Sep 2023 – 14 Jul 2024) was down 9.3%.
This decline was partly mitigated by the Club’s strategy to globalise its racing and build an overseas customer base, with commingled turnover on Hong Kong racing up 13.7% to HK$28.8 billion (approx. £2.8 billion), comprising 23.7% of local racing turnover for the season.
Furthermore, through the World Pool the Club is leveraging commingling and simulcasting to make Hong Kong the global hub for wagering on the world’s top races. With an additional 83 top overseas races last season, total turnover on simulcasting and the World Pool was up 8.7% to HK$12.8 billion (approx. £1.2 billion).
Nonetheless, the success of commingling, simulcasting and the World Pool was not sufficient to offset the decline in local racing turnover. As a result, overall racing wagering turnover for the season was down 4.5% to HK$134.7 billion (approx. £13.1 billion) and for FY2023/24 down 3.1% to HK$136.1 billion (approx. £13.3 billion).
Football turnover, however, achieved a record high of HK$160.3 billion for FY2023/24, up 2.2%. Here additional fixtures, the introduction of 24-hour operations, an increase in In Play offerings, as well as innovative new products like Same Game All Up and Early Settlement, all helped boost turnover and counter illegal markets. However, with the Club paying an additional HK$2.4 billion in Special Football Betting Duty per year for five years starting from April 2023, income from football was down 16.6% to HK$8.1 billion.
Mark Six performance was also positive, with refinements to the jackpot reserve model enabling the Club to offer more and higher jackpots. In consequence, Mark Six turnover for FY2023/24 was up 13.3% to HK$8.5 billion.
As a result, and despite the many challenges of the year, the Club’s total turnover for FY2023/24 was essentially unchanged at HK$304.9 billion (approx. £29.8 billion). Net margin, however, was down 10.5% to HK$14.8 billion, largely reflecting the full-year impact of Special Football Betting Duty of HK$2.4 billion.
Reflecting on the year, club chairman Michael Lee reinforced the Club’s commitment to fulfilling its purpose of acting for the betterment of our society, “The Club will continue to invest and, if necessary, make use of its reserves, both to ensure the Club’s long-term future and to uphold our commitment to the community.”
Club CEO, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “Looking back over the past year I am once again struck by the enormous resilience of the Club. Having taken everything that the pandemic had to throw at us, we have had to contend with an extremely challenging macro-economic environment as well as significant changes in customer behaviour as they seek out new experiences online or in outbound destinations. Despite this, the Club has continued to deliver outstanding racing entertainment and the strongest support for our community.”
