HKJC notes record turnover and community contribution in FY
The total turnover consisted of $278.47bn wagered by local customers and $26.32bn in non-local bets and HKJC’s pools.
Despite the record turnover, HKJC noted that the period had been “challenging”, particularly as the first seven months had been impacted by the economy’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Through resilience and agility, the club performed extremely well during the pandemic,” said Winifried Engelbrecht-Bresges, CEO of HKJC. “However there is no question that the post-pandemic environment is proving equally challenging, with the economy likely to be highly volatile for some time to come.”
The record turnover led to HKJC contributing a record amount to community funding, at $35.9bn. This consisted of $28.6bn in betting duty, profits tax and lotteries funds, as well as $7.3bn in approved charity donations.
“Together with the strong performance of football betting, this enabled the club to contribute a record HK$35.9 billion to the community,” continued Engelbrecht-Bresges.
Turnover up 29% at Mark Six
HKJC released information on its racing turnover in July. Turnover for the racing season was $141.10bn, creeping up by 0.5%. For the total financial year, turnover was stable at $140.4bn. Turnover also grew 9.1% for football betting, totalling at $156.87bn.
Turnover from Mark Six – HKJC’s lottery – was $7.56bn, shooting up by 29.2% and making up the remaining turnover.
The rise was likely due to Mark Six returning to three draws per week throughout the financial year.
Profit marks rise of $3.0bn
Betting and lottery revenue was $43.60bn for the year. However this was largely offset by $26.95bn in betting and lottery duty, coupled with $1.13bn in lotteries fund, which jumped 29.3% year-on-year. In total, $227.0m in payments were made to racing jurisdictions outside Hong Kong.
This left the total at $15.28bn, which was further aided by $5.13bn in other revenue. Membership fees accounted for $1.21bn in other revenue, while co-ordination and licence fees from commingling partners was $1.27bn.
Total operating costs for the year came to $14.46bn, an increase of 8.0%. This brought the pre-tax and pre-donation profit to $5.94bn for the year, signifying a downward shift of 5.0%.
Donations to HKJC’s trust totalled at $4.60bn. But the profit was built back up by a myriad of surpluses and incomes. These included $1.35bn in surplus from contingency fund investments and $488.0m in interest income from deposits.
Following this, the pre-tax profit was $3.59bn. HKJC paid $754m in tax, bringing the total profit for the year to $2.87bn, a $3.0bn rise year-on-year.