Betting duties and taxes paid to the government for the 2007-08 season increased 4.6 per cent to HK$13.23 billion, a 10-year high, the Jockey Club says.
The club - the only organisation licensed to take bets in Hong Kong - said the season's horse-racing turnover rose 5.8 per cent, to HK$67.69 billion, and soccer betting turnover grew 14 per cent, to HK$34.44 billion.
Although turnover for the Mark Six lottery fell 3.1 per cent to HK$6.38 billion, the overall turnover would enable payment of more than HK$15 billion in taxes, duties, charitable donations and other payments, it said.
Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said that while he was encouraged by the results, he remained concerned that illegal and offshore operators were increasingly targeting the club's major customers and it was not being given the opportunity to address those issues.
'If the club is not allowed the ability to remain competitive, the major losers in the end will be the public purse and the community at large,' Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
Club statistics show that the increase in soccer betting income contributed about two-thirds of the rise in betting duties and tax.
