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Jockey Club playing the man, not the ball, in an ever-changing world

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Why you can trust SCMP

One of the most basic concepts of modern business is understanding the nature of change. It's a challenge facing the Hong Kong Jockey Club as it struggles with the 'double invasion' of overseas bookmakers and betting exchanges. And it has to be said the evidence that the Club is adequately handling the challenge is far from convincing.

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My radar is always triggered when I see or hear someone, to borrow a football term, playing the man rather than the ball. It unfailing tells me the attacker is short on logic and answers, so that discrediting the new player has become the strategy until something more appropriate comes to mind.

And that's exactly the way Jockey Club spokesmen are playing at the moment regarding betting exchanges, whose leaders have been variously described as evil, insidious and potentially representing the end of the world as we know it.

What these overseas operators actually represent is the real world knocking at the door. Hong Kong racing has created the world's number one racing-wagering product and, for that reason, has every reason to feel proud. But it's only natural, with something so good, that the rest of the world will want to take some level of interest.

It must be remembered we are living and working in the era of affordable and easy global travel and of a free information exchange called the Internet. People now move effortlessly, both physically and mentally, across seamless international barriers. The old rules no longer apply.

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The advancements in IT mean the world has changed and the old ways won't be returning. It's not a cyclical change like fashion, which sees hemlines high one year and low the next - it's a structural change which will be with us forever, with no turning back.

So fighting the arrival of the commercial outside world with insults is definitely not the answer. In fact, it's so unsophisticated that it's altogether unbecoming. The finances of Hong Kong racing are unique in the world because the vast fortune it gives back, via taxes (some 10 per cent of government revenue) and profit distributions to the worthwhile elements of society - hospitals, charities, scholarships etc.

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