After introducing a gross profit tax system inspired by the UK example, the Singapore Turf Club and the local government agreed to cut take-out rates for win and place pools from 18 to 10 per cent for about 50 per cent of the races.
Yong Guan Koh, Chairman of the Singapore Turf Club, said his organization had to take measures after turnover fell by around 20 per cent in the three years since 2001, largely due to an inflexible taxation structure and to competition from illegal betting companies based in offshore islands around Indonesia.
In an attempt to bamboozle the illegal operators, the STC was given the flexibility to vary the take-out rates from race to race, while adopting the practice of reducing the take-out only minutes before the advertised time of a race and without prior warning.
Illegal betting companies have been immediately affected, with the bigger firms reducing the payouts, while many of the smaller operators have gone out of business.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is believed to be close to follow Singapore\’s example.
In separate news, Ken Kirchner, Senior Vice President of the US National Thoroughbred Racing Association, told members of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities reunited in Paris, that international simulcasting of major races together with pool betting offer racing a powerful antidote to illegal betting.
Given an exotic pool where the winning ticket may be worth $10m, racing could compete with internet poker sites, Kirchner said.
“These types of pools are possible with global pari-mutuel pools, and they provide customers with what they want, more racing product.”
Hong Kong Jockey Cub Chief Executive Larry Wong described simulcasting on a global pool as “horseracing\’s equivalent of the Super Bowl.”
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