China holds horse betting trial run

It is illegal to gamble in mainland China. The Communists deemed gambling a major vice, along with opium, when they came to power, and made a priority of eliminating them.

The official Xinhua News Agency said spectators were allowed to place two bets for free and winners received 20 lottery tickets issued by the local sports lottery administration. Wang Shenshun, deputy head of the city’s sports administration, said Saturday’s races were meant to test the racecourse, betting rules and organization, according to the report.

"The test run is preparation for an official event in the future," Wang said. "If approved, the number of China’s horse races, with betting, will be upgraded to regular events being held once or twice a week."

Wang said Saturday’s trial run went smoothly, but did not give an indication of when an official horse betting event could be reintroduced. An expert estimated that 3 million jobs could be created if a nationwide betting network were set up, Xinhua said.

Annual lottery sales could reach us$ 15 billion, with us$ 6 billion in tax revenue a year, Qin Zunwen of the Hubei Provincial Academy of Social Sciences was quoted as saying. Popular in pre-Communist China, horse racing started to reappear during the 1990s as national races were organized and jockey clubs set up, although betting was still illegal, Xinhua said.

Horse racing is extremely popular in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China that has its own political and legal system. It is the only form of legal gambling there, run by the Jockey Club. Casinos in the nearby enclave of Macau have also started to draw streams of mainland Chinese visitors.