Those of you who patronised our Off-Course Betting Branches on Tuesday might have found you had wait in line behind some fairly lengthy queues. We saw a huge number of extra customers coming along that day to buy Mark Six tickets, all hoping to fulfil their dreams of overnight riches after a jackpot of HK$57 million was carried forward from previous draws.
I can tell you that overall, we handled more than 7.4 million betline transactions for this draw through our cash, online and interactive betting channels, including 3.5 million transactions on Tuesday alone. Total turnover for the draw reached HK$201 million in the end, the fifth highest on record. And with there being just one First Prize winner, there was an eventual payout of a whopping HK$86.11 million. This was the highest in the 36-year history of the Mark Six, eclipsing the previous record of HK$70.9 million set in September 2003.
Lotteries are equally popular in my home country Germany, where the draws are all organised by the government. As in Hong Kong, it's a six out of 49 lotto game, with the sole difference being that each ticket carries an additional super number. The all-time record payout in Germany went to a male nurse from North Rhine-Westphalia, who won a top prize of €37.6 million back in October 2006. The income gained from lotteries provides additional revenues to the state governments, while part of the proceeds also goes to sponsor public services or for charity purposes.
Although in Hong Kong the Mark Six draw is operated by the Club through our affiliate HKJC Lotteries Ltd, it has likewise made immense contributions to the Government and local social groups for over 30 years. Since 1975, the Mark Six has contributed over HK$29.5 billion in Lottery Duty to the public coffers. To put that in perspective, this figure almost doubles the HK$15 billion funding announced by HKSAR Financial Secretary John Tsang in Wednesday's Budget for the renovation of Kwong Wah and Queen Mary Hospitals.
In addition, the Mark Six has contributed another HK$15.1 billion over the years to the Lotteries Fund, which supports various social welfare services and community projects in Hong Kong, benefiting people from all different walks of life.
In the current fiscal year, our duty payments from the Mark Six draw are estimated to reach HK$1.33 billion, a 38 per cent increase on last year's figure. For 2012/13 the forecast figure will be even higher at nearly HK$1.4 billion. I’m pleased to see that the Mark Six is continuing to attract such great support from local people, especially after we adjusted the unit investment from HK$5 to HK$10 in late 2010. Jackpots are the keys to keep the public interest in lotteries such as Mark Six. Along with the unit investment adjustment, the increase in unit prize improves the probability of creating and accumulating jackpots. I'm happy to say that this strategy has paid off, with many resulting benefits to the community at large.
Some of you may like to know more about the draw process. One of the notable features is that each time we invite a Justice of the Peace along to provide independent oversight of the draw, along with a representative from one of the beneficiary organisations. In addition, the draw is broadcast live on local television so that everyone can view the process and catch up instantly on the draw results. I think these practices are important, as they ensure that the draw is seen to be completely fair and open. Despite occasional reports of fraudsters claiming that they have inside tracks on "special numbers" or whatever, I can firmly say that these things simply cannot happen!
While we are always delighted to see the smiles on the faces of big winners, we feel even happier to know that the Mark Six creates long-term benefits for the whole of Hong Kong through its contributions to public spending through betting duties, or to social and charity causes through the Lotteries Fund.
The same, of course, applies to our horse racing operations. The steady increase in racing turnover so far this season means that more and more betting duties will go to the Government Treasury, while increased surpluses will ultimately be made available to the Club's Charities Trust. On Wednesday we reported a very encouraging turnover of HK$996 million for our night races at Happy Valley – the highest night meeting figure so far this season – of which the Government will collect HK$117 million.
I hope that we'll see another good result at Sha Tin tomorrow, when the HKG1 Chairman's Sprint Prize will be the highlight of the 10 races on the card. In this second leg of Hong Kong Speed Series, it’s a terrific contest of some of the best sprinters in the world, and the pace is expected to be good to slow. Running on the B+2 Course, horses in the front and near to the front should enjoy slight advantages! Blaze King and Leading City are likely to lead and I think it won’t be easy for both horses, as Blaze King appears more to be a 1000m specialist, and Leading City is best at 1400m. Eagle Regiment can take the box seat behind these leaders and he ran a blinder in his first Group 1 win over the 1000m, but I am not sure he will be as effective over the 1200m around the bend. Little Bridge and Let Me Fight should be well placed and are serious contenders for winning, or at least be placed. Little Bridge was a little bit disappointing in his last two races but with blinkers applied, he went very well in his gallop on Monday. Let Me Fight has tremendous ability but he does not like to fight in a finish. But he goes best with Jeff Lloyd as jockey and ran well in his last two races. Lucky Nine will be well placed in midfield. He was held up in his last race and the 1000m is too short for him. He is working very well and I think he will be the horse to beat. Joy And Fun is working well too and have to come from the back with his draw 10 but will finish strongly and is a place chance for me, as is Rich Unicorn who will follow Lucky Nine. Sacred Kingdom is one of my all-time favourites but from Gate 12 he has a difficult task ahead, but he is still an outside place chance in this race.
The Crystal Handicap as Race 9 is one of our good Class 3 races, with some upcoming three-year-olds and four-year-olds take on some proven older warriors. The good to slow pace will give a little advantage to horses in the front of the field. Jimson The Best in his last surprise win took an uncontested lead and will try to do the same but has to accelerate out of his Gate 11 to take up a position in front of the field. He has an outside place chance for me. Dr Super as a young three-year-old has the option to share the lead out of Gate 3 or take the box seat. Stepping up in distance from 1400m to 1600m should help him and I think he is a win and place chance but not unbeatable. His main opponents will be Blessing and Loving Star. Blessing is working well and despite being in traffic problems in his defeat last time, he only lost to Jimson The Best by a nose margin. With his good work, he is a serious win and place chance coming from midfield. Loving Star made a nice debut over 1400m and he has improved in his work and would not be surprised if he would win the race. Peppermint is working well too and I see him as a good place chance.
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