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SCMP Reporter

Authorities are trying to play down reports about the introduction of betting on horse races in Wuhan  in the near future, fearing  it will contradict the Communist Party's long-standing ban on gambling.
Thursday's Changjiang Times quoted Wuhan party secretary Miao Wei  as saying  the State Sports General Administration had given approval  for a 'horse-racing lottery' in Wuhan in September, but Xinhua said betting trials  would probably not begin  until next year.
The Changjiang Times stories and the Chinese  version of the Xinhua report were both deleted from their websites yesterday.
Wuhan media  was also told to  ignore the topic until official approval had been given.
'The publicity department has ordered us not to report or reprint any stories about the horse-racing lottery. They want to keep a low profile. After all, gambling has been banned here for about half a century,' a reporter at the Wuhan Evening News said.
The term 'horse-racing lottery' has been used to  sidestep  the gambling ban.
China Sports Lottery Administration Centre spokesman Feng Xin  denied that authorities had approved betting on horse races  in Wuhan, according to the Southern Metropolis News.
'Horse-racing lotteries are still being studied,' Mr Feng was quoted as saying. 'They haven't been reviewed yet. How can they get the official permit?'
Qin Yingwei , director of a research office under the Wuhan Democratic League who was commissioned to  report  on the feasibility of horse racing in the city,  confirmed that conditions were not yet ripe for introducing  gambling.  There were not enough horses at Wuhan's Orient Lucky City, the site earmarked for regular races from September.
'It has about 300 horses so far after introducing 250 last year,' Mr Qin said. 'But it needs at least 400 for betting.  We plan to have one race per month at the beginning and then, gradually, one or two races per week.'
Mr Qin said it was up to the Ministry of Finance,  which controls  lotteries, to approve betting on  horse races.  A spokesman for the ministry  refused to comment on the issue.
But an Orient Lucky Horse Group spokeswoman said: 'We are preparing for a horse-race lottery, but so far, we haven't got any official notice of permits.'
Hong Kong businessman Jacky Wu Yuet-Ko  is president of  Orient Lucky Horse Group,  which has  staged an  annual international horse-racing festival in Wuhan since 2003.
Guangzhou first got approval in 1993 to run  trial horse races and trackside betting using Hong Kong as a model, but the racecourse was closed in 1999 amid reports of corruption, doping and animal abuse.



Reports on betting at Wuhan horse races pulled from websites