Hong Kong punters bet HK$1.94 billion on first race day in Year of the Snake
Crowd of nearly 86,000 at Sha Tin and Happy Valley includes record number of tourists
The Year of the Snake got off to a flying start at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Friday, with punters piling in as betting reached numbers not seen in more than 18 months.
The HK$1.94 billion (US$248.7 million) wagered was the second biggest turnover for a Lunar New Year race day since the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
While turnover was down on the HK$2.06 billion bet in 2023, it was up 10.4 per cent on last year’s figure of HK$1.74 billion. It also represented Hong Kong’s biggest betting day since the 2022-23 season finale in July 2023.
Sha Tin was abuzz as 78,921 clicked through the turnstiles – including a record 9,645 tourists – while 6,970 descended on the Happy Valley racecourse to ensure a final crowd number of 85,891 – 2.1 per cent down on the Lunar New Year meeting in 2024.
“I think it was one of the most amazing [Lunar New Year] days. The atmosphere was sensational,” Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
“We had over 9,600 tourists here and 90 per cent were from the mainland. Turnover was absolutely amazing.