Hong Kong people are gambling more money in Macau casinos than they spend with the Jockey Club at home for the first time, according to newly released figures.
A detailed study by the Jockey Club has found that people from Hong Kong - who make up the second-biggest pool of Macau casino patrons after mainlanders - spent HK$22 billion in the world's richest gaming destination in 2009, compared with the gross revenue of HK$21.8 billion received by the club between July 2009 and June last year.
That's about HK$3,000 for every man, woman and child in the city.
'Hong Kong people are losing more money to the casinos in Macau than in Hong Kong,' said Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. He said the club was not facing an immediate threat, but 'severe competition' from Macau - with its lucrative combination of high-rollers brought in by junket operators who offer big lines of credit to gamblers, and mass market operations - was taking its toll.
'It would be wrong to say that we cry foul and that we are in a crisis. This is a matter of competitiveness over a period of time,' he said.
He added that the club's ongoing charity donations - which reached a record-high HK$1.62 billion last year - would not be possible without a sustainable betting operation.
