The "unrelenting decline of on-course betting in Ireland was illustrated by another stark dip in turnover" on the country’s racecourses in the first half of this year, according to Brian O'Connor of the IRISH TIMES. Horse Racing Ireland's statistical report for the first six months of '17 "showed growth in many areas of the thoroughbred industry," including a 17.7% increase in bloodstock sales. However, it is "another significant decline in on-course betting which stands out as a major concern for racing officials." Total on-course betting dropped another 6.4% to €33.8M ($39M). Tote betting on Ireland’s tracks slipped over 10% to €4.3M ($4.97M) despite total Tote betting being up 9% at €48.2M ($55.7M). On-course bookmakers handled €29.5M ($34.1M) in the first half of this year, a 5.8% slide on the same period of '16 (IRISH TIMES, 7/17).
RECORD FIGURES: In Hong Kong, Alan Aitken reported on the last day of the '15-16 season, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced "a new commingling turnover record" of HK$74M for the day. A year later, that new record was HK$183M "and commingling of bets placed overseas on Hong Kong races and channelled into home pools" is now on target to be a HK$12B ($1.5B)-a-year business by this time in '18. HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said that next season, from a business sense, "will be all about the club building on that." He said, "The real growth for the next two or three years is from commingling, where we now harvest our world-class racing product and we have even more partners coming online" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 7/18).
