End of an era

Macau’s Secretary for Administration and Justice has announced the end to over 40 years of horse racing in China’s Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The Macau Jockey Club (MJC) took to X Monday to announce that the Macau SAR government will rescind the horse racing concession contract held by its operator, the Macau Horse Racing Company Limited (MHRC), from April 1:

While Macau is a world gambling powerhouse, the financial viability of horse racing in the SAR struggled even before the acquisition of the MJC by a consortium led by the late casino mogul Stanley Ho in 1991.

The MJC has, however, held a betting concession contract since 1978 established via the then-Portuguese government and stakeholders. While the MHRC signed an agreement last year to renew the MJC contract until 2042, the government’s announcement has signaled the sport’s final lap this spring. ??

For many in the Macau horse racing industry, the contract termination comes as no surprise after several years of financial downturn for the MHRC.

Losses accumulate

According to SportBusiness, the financial woes faced by the MHRC amount to “total accumulated losses in excess of MOP$2.5bn” (US$310m).

The MHRC’s monetary issues first came to the public’s attention in 2018, when the SAR government threatened to axe the firm’s racing contract if it did not repay its debt of MOP$153m ($18.97m). Thanks to COVID-19, the MHRC’s financials for 2022 reported a MOP$1.9bn ($235m) loss.

The MJC on Monday issued a press release citing the MHRC as stating: “There has been limited room for development and growth of the horse racing industry in Macau over the years.”

Coupled with the fallout from the pandemic, the statement continued: “The Board of Directors has had to make a difficult decision […] to cease all racing related operations.”

horseracing operations have not yielded the intended socio-economic benefits.”

Government Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon said the SAR had “conducted a comprehensive analysis and determined that horseracing operations have not yielded the intended socio-economic benefits.”

Regional collapse

Cheong Weng Chon also ruled out any hopes of another firm rescuing horse racing in Macau, stating that come April 1, “there will be no further public tendering for the operation.”

The SAR Secretary added that apart from Macau, the horse racing industry was also on the decline in neighboring regions.

The government of Singapore last year announced its decision to reclaim Singapore Racecourse land for housing redevelopment, with the Singapore Turf Club to cease operations by March 2027.