Elsewhere at the conference in Sydney, Australian betting operator Tabcorp revealed itself ready to go to 20 hours a day of commingled pools.
The volume seems to have been turned down on commingling for Hong Kong Jockey Club recently and we can only guess it is trapped in some government backwater when there had been optimism that a positive announcement would be made any time about now.
Australia will become the latest nation to ramp up commingling as Tabcorp's Sky Racing television channels lift their overseas broadcasting to 20 hours a day, seven days a week within a year.
Simulcasting with Singapore is already being trialled in addition to the current South African and New Zealand commingling and British and Irish racing is under starter's orders, to be followed by Canada and the US.
If, in commingling as in most market situations, there are 'squatter's rights' - an advantage to those already in place over any new entrants to the market - then Hong Kong is giving an ever-growing start to its rivals for the billions of dollars floating around in export markets.
