So, another season is over and I want to offer my sincere thanks to all our racing fans for the great support they've given us throughout the past 10 months. It was fantastic to see some 63,000 people turn out for our season finale last Wednesday. They packed the grandstands and created a great atmosphere. My gratitude also goes to other fans who could not make it to Sha Tin but enjoyed watching the races at home. In total, the day's turnover reached HK$1.21 billion – the highest single-day figure in six years.
It was especially encouraging to see how keenly Caspar Fownes, John Moore and John Size competed for the trainer's premiership in the final few weeks of the season. Caspar finally edged out his opponents in this hard-fought title and I believe his famous father Lawrie must have felt very proud of his son's achievements. Talented rookie Matthew Chadwick also marked his name in local racing history by breaking the apprentice jockey's record with a remarkable 43 winners in his debut season. This is an outstanding result and I hope this home-grown sportsman can continue to do as well next term.
I also want to offer my thanks to all Owners for the support they've given us during the year, contributing to the continued enhancement of Hong Kong racing by importing quality racehorses. A special word is due to many veteran Owners whose support goes back several decades - for example Dr Stanley Ho, Owner of our Horse of the Year Viva Pataca, and Yem Ming, Owner of Hong Kong International Sale bonus winner Big Profit. Their winning of these honours shows that they remain as dedicated as ever to our sport, and serves as worthy recognition for their persistent efforts.
The enthusiasm of the local racing media also plays an important part in the continued success of Hong Kong racing, and my media friends would not have let me leave the racecourse on Wednesday without giving them my thoughts on the season's overall performance. I told them that although our total racing turnover for the season showed a HK$865 million drop to HK$66.82 billion, I saw this as a tremendously positive result, given the very difficult economic environment. It reaffirms that racing is Hong Kong's biggest leisure and entertainment activity, and that the Club has played an effective role in meeting the local demand for gaming in a regulated and responsible way that benefits society.
Since then, we have also heard the good news that the Executive Council has approved our proposal for adding five racedays and 15 overseas simulcast days. I believe the members of ExCo have understood the operational challenges we are facing, and appreciated the important role of horse racing in local society. Their decision is good news for the future development of horse racing, as well as to the community at large, particularly in terms of local employment. We plan to hire another 1,500 new staff at the end of August, and more at a later date. In fact, we already have 29,000 applicants on our waiting list following an earlier recruitment exercise in late April, which shows the huge demand for the job opportunities we provide people from different walks of life.
For the 15 additional overseas simulcast days, I want to stress that it's not our intention to provide racing fans with betting opportunities throughout the summer break. The extra simulcasts will be spread over the whole year and will be carefully selected to give local fans and visitors the chance of enjoying the most famous overseas races and those that have a Hong Kong interest. Actually, the turnover for our overseas simulcast races is only about 10 per cent of the average HK$90 million turnover for each domestic race. But most of our customers view racing as a sport and are keen to follow the top international events, so we think they shouldn't be deprived of the opportunity to do so.
The one disappointment in our proposal was that our request for Government to consider a lowering of the betting duty level was not entertained. This will inevitably hamper our ongoing efforts to win back revenue from illegal and unauthorised offshore operators, as Hong Kong's current duty rate of 72.5 to 75 per cent is way higher than those of other regional jurisdictions – for example, our friendly competitor the Singapore Turf Club now pays a levy of only 25 per cent. This issue is not, as some people might think, about boosting our own revenue. It's about enhancing the competitiveness of the Club's regulated betting channels and assisting the Government to combat the illegal bookies.
For example, although we are now offering a 10 per cent rebate to customers betting over HK$10,000, the illegal bookmakers still enjoy an edge as most of them are now offering a 15 per cent rebate, even to some customers betting lesser amounts. There is no way we could offer a better rebate programme and payout ratio when our horse race betting duty remains at such a high level, so we have very limited ability to stay competitive and fight these illegal syndicates.
I can understand the difficulty of the Government, but it would be better if we can discuss this issue further, especially for the overseas simulcasts as we can create a win-win situation in changing to a net profit-based taxation to avoid double taxation. In addition, though we are already at a very thin margin, we see the importance of investing in our racecourse facilities and customer services like our web platform. Otherwise, it would threaten not only the Club's long-term sustainability or competitiveness but also our community contributions, including the HK$8.1 billion tax income generated from racing alone.
Anyway, I know the Legislative Council's Home Affairs Panel will discuss the issue further tomorrow morning. I hope all parties will understand the situation we are facing, and appreciate the importance of ensuring a sustainable future for the Jockey Club, recognising its not-for-profit status and its vital role as Hong Kong's largest non-Government community benefactor.
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