'China Jockey Club' apparently launched in Beijing last month exposed as hoax
China Jockey Club does not appear in official registration documents and several organisations that were reported to have been partners denied any involvement
The mainland “China Jockey Club” – which was reportedly backed by a member of the British royal family – has been revealed as a hoax.
Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily had reported on its overseas edition that the so-called China Jockey Club had been officially launched in Beijing last month and preparations for a horse racing lottery were underway. Money raised from the lottery was earmarked for government coffers, charities and the horse racing industry, the report said.
The British press reported that Peter Phillips, Queen Elizabeth’s eldest grandson, had been hired by mainland authorities to help launch a horse racing industry and had flown to Beijing for the unveiling of the China Jockey Club, which was to have been the centrepiece of the nascent industry.
The news quickly spread through the stock market and prices of several racing-related stocks rose in anticipation that the ban on racing and gambling would finally be lifted.
However, China Jockey Club could not be found in official registration documents and several organisations that were mentioned in the report as partners denied any connection.
The organisation also could not be found in the online national database for social organisations.
The Gongyi Shibao, or the Public Interest Times, an official newspaper of the China Welfare Lottery Centre which is one of the only two lotteries in China, ran an expose reporting the club was not legally registered and its website was registered in the United States, not China.
Furthermore, three organisations which had been reported to have taken part in the official launch denied any involvement.
The Counselors’ Office of the State Council issued a statement on their website said such claims were “seriously untrue” and the office had never participated in such an event.
China Centre for International Economic Exchange also said it had never taken part in the launch.
And a secretary of China Institute of Strategy and Management denied the institute had been involved with the launch.
The Shanghai Morning Post reported that both the China welfare lottery and sports lottery denied any knowlege of the horse racing lottery. In addition, thepaper.cn cited Shanghai sports lottery centre as saying it had no knowledge of a reported international horse racing event in the city.
