Opinion | During Covid-19, Hong Kong Jockey Club has raced to the rescue once again

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Jockey Club has committed over HK$1.8 billion to Covid-19 relief initiatives, fast-tracking grants to NGOs offering essential services

In so doing, the club continues a long tradition of supporting Hong Kong, particularly during difficult times

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Horses race at the Jockey Club’s Happy Valley racecourse on April 20. The club donates any operating surplus through the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. Photo: HKJC

Published: 6:30am, 22 Apr 2022

The thudding of hooves that sets hearts pounding. A century-old racecourse. Adrenaline-fuelled cheering. Part of the fabric of the city, Hong Kong’s world-class horse racing is as iconic as they come.

In fact, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping promised Hongkongers that after 1997 “horse racing will continue, dancing parties will go on”. And continue it has, one of the few constants throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. All 88 race meetings with over 800 races were run during the pandemic 2020-2021 season thanks to the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s “racing bubble”.

The club was even able to stage its showpiece Longines Hong Kong International Races, with international participants from Europe, Japan and Australia. In an uncertain and anxious time, racing has given Hongkongers much-needed entertainment and a sense of continuity.

Hong Kong’s single largest taxpayer, the Jockey Club contributed HK$24.9 billion (US$3.2 billion) in tax to public coffers in the last financial year, making up around 4.5 per cent of the government’s total revenue.

The Jockey Club operates on a unique not-for-profit business model, which means any operating surplus is allocated to charity through the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and is deployed “for the betterment of our society”.

This globally admired integrated model of horse racing, membership club, responsible sports wagering and lottery plus philanthropy has been written up in a case study by the renowned University of Chicago Booth School of Business.