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Macau Horse Racing Enters Final Lap, Ending in April After 40 Years
By Jeff Osienya Jan 17, 2024 IndustryHorse racing in Macau finally bites the dust after four decades of being part of the sports culture in China’s SAR (Special Administrative Region). Macau’s equestrian scene has been facing financial struggles due to waned local and cross border interest.The Macau government has announced that horse racing will soon end within its jurisdiction in the coming weeks. As such, Macau has already unveiled plans to terminate its contract with the City’s Jockey Club in April 2024. The official communication of the city’s termination of its agreement with the Companhia de Corridas de Carvalos de Macau was conveyed via an executive order signed by Ho Lat Seng, the head of government.
Macau’s announcement ends months of speculation, with recent whispers in the Asian continent pointing to this very outcome. In the press conference announcing the news, Executive Council spokesperson Andre’ Cheong Weng Chon acknowledged and praised the long four-decade history shared with the Macau Jockey Club (MJC) since 1989.
Reasons For the Cessation of Horse Racing
The Macau Jockey Club requested the termination of its contract with Macau since it was facing what it termed as ‘exploitation difficulties.’ The Macau government accepted this request after a recently conducted exhaustive study. According to the government officials in the press conference, Horse Racing no longer met the interests of the larger Macau population. True to that, the reduced interest would ultimately be felt in the club’s finances, which started to struggle to make ends meet. Chon was quoted saying:
Quote“Considering these activities have progressively lost their appeal to local residents and tourists in recent years, the government, after thorough research, decided to accept the application from the Macao Horse Racing Company.”
MJC’s struggles haven’t started recently. From the look of things, they date as far back as 2002. It has, therefore, been a slippery slope for more than two decades as the company continued struggling to find a remedy for its slow but sure demise. As experts see it, the COVID-19 pandemic likely delivered the final bow to the MJC. Macau, a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, was subject to the tight pandemic-induced restrictions of the pandemic in China, which were among the toughest in the world. For a business that wasn’t even doing well in the pre-pandemic times, this spelled certain doom for the Macau Jockey Club.
The Macau Jockey Club, on its part released a statement that owned up to the struggles it was facing. It read in part:
Quote“Macau Horse Racing Limited Club has been operating at a loss, accumulate in excess of 2.5 Billion. Moreover, there has been limited room for the development and growth of the horse racing industry in Macau over the years, and including the adverse effects brought about by the pandemic over these last three years, it has become increasingly difficult to sustain the operations.”
MJC’s weak financial position meant the club had to take drastic measures to survive. This included substantially cutting down on the number of races it offered from a peak of 15 per day to hardly five races per day recently. Other measures implemented included the cessation of fresh horse imports, pre-race trackwork, and overseas wagering. The club’s situation got so bad that it had accumulated $310 million in debt.
According to official data from the club, in 2019, right before COVID-19 struck, the wagers on horse racing stood at 98 million Macanese patacas. Compare this to 2023’s figure for its first nine months of 32 million patacas, and you’ll understand just why the club is closing shop in Macau.
Mind you, the MJC had a monopoly on horse racing in Macau until August 2042. So, the untimely termination of this contract sees the company leave with promises of unfulfilled lucrative investments. For instance, back in 2018, the MJC committed to making investments to the tune of 3.4 billion Macanese patacas. The company also had ambitious plans for a tourism project that targeted an opening date of 2026. This tourism project would see the club invest in developing at least two hotels, green areas, sports areas, a riding school on Taipa Island, restaurants, and a shop.
What Next?
Following the cancellation of the MJC contract, local media outlets, including the public service broadcaster TDM, reported that the Macau government did not intend to pursue any more public tendering at the club’s tracks. And while the 40-year relationship is ending, it is doing so under cordial terms. As such, the Macau government will not pursue any compensation from the MJC in light of the company’s request to terminate its contract with the government. The government also confirmed that the 150 million patacas in taxes owed from the MJC have also been fully paid.
The company, on its part, maintains that it will be committed to the fair compensation of laid-off workers. As we speak, MJC has 254 local workers and 316 who don’t hold Macau resident status. Meanwhile, the club will also commence its plans to move out of Macau, with the government giving a deadline of March 31st, 2025, to move its horses out of Macau. There are indications that officials in mainland China may be interested in taking the nearly 290 horses.
A total of 404,000 square meters of land initially occupied by the MJC will now be vacant and will go back to the Macau government. Meanwhile, parties harboring intentions of setting up future casinos in the venue are unlucky, and the government has affirmed that it won’t be developing any casinos on the parcel.
Macau’s government has also stated that there are indications of horse racing being on a downward trajectory in neighboring regions in the Asian continent. Judging by developments in neighboring Singapore, Macau’s officials are right on the money. Last year, the Singapore government announced its plans to reclaim the Singapore Racecourse land. The parcel will now be used for the city’s housing redevelopment plan. As such, the Singapore Turf Club is required to stop its operations on this parcel of land by March 2027.
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