Hong Kong Racing
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges plea to arrest a decline in global wagering turnover
Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges made an impassioned plea for racing jurisdictions to work more collaboratively to arrest a decline in global wagering turnover.
Engelbrecht-Bresges gave the opening address at the 41st Asian Racing Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday and described the growth of illegal betting, increasing competition from Sports Betting, i-Gaming and Prediction markets, and widening the sport's fan base as the three biggest issues confronting the racing industry.
He revealed that betting on racing has been "stagnant or declining" in most jurisdictions with racing's share of sports betting turnover falling at least 2 percent each year since 2021.
"The latest estimates put racing's share (of sports betting market) at just 14 percent in 2025 with a further drop to 13 percent anticipated this year,'' Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
"Most worryingly, this has occurred at a faster race than we expected.''
Engelbrecht-Bresges pointed out the downturn in betting turnover mirrors a worrying decline in the thoroughbred global foal crop with nearly 40,000 fewer racehorses born this year than in 2005 which represents a massive 35 percent fall. During this period, Australia's foal crop has fallen from 18,447 two decades ago to 11,698 in 2024.
Despite the worrying decline in the number of foals being born over the last 20 years, there are more Group 1 races worldwide than ever, increasing by 6 percent over the same period.
"This seems to be contradictory, particularly when these are supposed to be the sport's most elite world class races. It has led to smaller field sizes in those races,'' Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
"The question is are we exercising black type control sufficiently and is it for the betterment of our sport and the improvement of the thoroughbred breed.''
Engelbrecht-Bresges maintains it is crucial for our best racehorses to be clashing more often in the best races.
He highlighted the example of French champion Calandagan, voted the 2025 Longines World's Best Racehorse, after Group 1 wins in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and the Japan Cup.
"We have to create these global events," Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
"Why was Calandagan crowned the world's best horse? Why was he the champion? Because he went to Japan.
"Calandagan took on the best Japanese horses and won the Japan Cup. This is an event which creates global attention, which as a sport we don't do often enough.
"This is how we have to cooperate, how we have to collaborate, and how we create a fan base, not only in our own jurisdictions, but how we build a much more global fan base, andthat we can do only if we collaborate."
Engelbrecht-Bresges said the racing industry needs to address the "our inability of our sport to overcome fragmentation."
"We don't compete against each other, we need to adopt global collaboration,'' he said.
"I'm convinced all racing jurisdictions need to work collaboratively within and across borders to grow our sport and build a global alliance to promote the sport.''
But it was not all doom and gloom for the racing industry with Engelbrecht-Bresges highlighting some success stories around the world.
It was revealed the presence of the world's best sprinter, Hong Kong champion Ka Ying Rising in the elite The Everest field generated record World Pool betting of $HK83 million, the most bet on a single race since the World Pool was introduced in 2018.
Japan's Arima Kinen generated over $US450 million dollars in betting turnover, the biggest return for a single race in Japan this century and a nearly 30 percent increase over 2024.
Betting on the Kentucky Derby card reached nearly $US350 million, an increase of 9 percent, and wagering on the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival also rose 9 percent on the previous year, with the Cup itself setting a new turnover record of $A247 million.
Engelbrecht-Bresges also highlighted where despite the worldwide global wagering downturn, some jurisdictions are getting what he described as "positive wagering results" on major race days and carnivals last year.
"In New Zealand, turnover in 2024-25 rose by over 5 percent on the back of (wagering operator) Entain NZ's turnover on racing increasing by 21 percent in the first half of 2025,'' he said.
"Japan continued a 14-year growth trend with over 3.5 trillion yen in turnover, marking a 5.2 percent rise on 2024.
"Overall tote turnover in Ireland for 2025 increased by over 7 percent on the previous 12 months.''
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