The commencement of co-mingling of pools between Hong Kong and Australia is getting closer with the start of the 2014/15 Hong Kong season in September the latest time period for the introduction of the long awaited wagering advance.
Bill Nader, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director Racing, said on Tuesday at Sha Tin that he expected that co-mingling with Tabcorp’s Victoria pool would be first with the NSW pool to follow.
“I think we have made great progress over the last few months and now we are in the final stages. My expectation would be that the deal would be completed in pretty short order,” he said.
“Victoria would be the first to start followed by NSW but hopefully we can get going by no later than the start of the new season in September,” he said.
Nader said that the result would have a favourable impact on the Australian side of wagering.
“I think it will add quite a bit because the pools here are the biggest in the world. The liquidity that you see, not just on the big days but every day, with even a routine Wednesday at Happy Valley will have turnover well over A$125 million. Those pools are big,” he said.
“I think we will see that with the quinella and quinella place, which accounts for 52% of the wagering here, betting into those pools will be quite exciting with not only for people in Australia, but also with people all over the world. So I expect a big increase and I am sure they (Tabcorp) do as well.
“The bet types that will be available to customers in Australian will be win, quinella, quinella place and tierce. Those will be the five bet types that they will be able to accommodate at the start with the hope to eventually introduce additional bet types as we move along.
“Those bet types are about 90% of the wagering here which covers a lot of territory and it is exciting. I think people will watch this in Hong Kong which is one thing, but to be able to wager into the pools completes the experience in a way that gives the customer total satisfaction and experience.
“Which is what we are really trying to do, because the racing and wagering content here really is the gold standard. When you combine the two, which is really the audio and the video (broadcast) without the mechanism, and when you can wager into the pools you can get a piece of it. Now Australian’s will get this which is what we have always strived to do,” he said.
Hong Kong commenced co-mingling in April with the USA with live television coverage of all of its races and the opportunity to bet into HKJC’s pari-mutuel pools in a multi-year deal with TVG. Further co-mingling with other USA operators is expected shortly.
An example of the power of Hong Kong’s turnover was the simulcast of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day at Randwick two weeks ago when Hong Kong punters turned over A$16.9 million on seven races.
– Thoroughbred News
