Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO chairs presentation on wagering as racing’s lifeblood at opening session of the 35th Asian Racing Conference

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Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Vice Chairman of the Asian Racing Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, speaks at the conference’s first plenary session, “Racing’s lifeblood – the future landscape for wagering” today.

Published: 7:00pm, 6 May 2014Updated: 11:10am, 7 May 2014

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, opened the 35th Asian Racing Conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre this morning (6 May) with a keynote presentation for the session titled ‘Racing’s Lifeblood – the future landscape for wagering’.

As chair of the three-day convocation’s first session, Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges, who is also Vice Chairman of both the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), pointed out the differences between horseracing and other major sports, which gain their revenues from sponsorship, merchandising, broadcast rights and event-day contributions. He stated that racing brings in only about 15% of its revenue from those streams enjoyed by other sports, while on average 65% of racing’s revenue comes from wagering.

Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges told delegates: “Wagering revenue is the lifeblood of racing. If we want to have a sustainable business model, if we want to make sure our sport is competitive, we have to grow our wagering income.”

He said: “We have to invest heavily in racecourse facilities to meet customer demands; we have to invest in customer services, in marketing programmes and technology in light of the significant increased competition we face. We have to realise we are not only competing in a wagering market, in the end we are in the entertainment market.

“We are competing for the attention, time and entertainment dollar of our current and future customers,” he said, before observing that “racing is losing market share in the global gaming market and as a result becoming less relevant not only to customers but to independently run wagering operators.”

With race betting set to remain flat through to 2017 and sports betting turnover set to exceed that of horseracing for the first time this year, Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges forwarded two major factors “critical” to the development of the racing industry: “regulatory environment and governance” and “value creation”.