Memorandum
Hong Kong Jocky Club Case
Hong Kong Jockey Club was a gambling company with a monopoly on horse racing, football betting and lotteries, and it was also the largest charity and community benefactor in Hong Kong. The club used to have simple origins of horse racing and it had robust growth along with Hong Kong economy before 1998. In 1996/97 season, the Hong Kong Jockey Club race betting turnover rose to a record peak of HK$92.4 billion. However, it faced adverse condition after this and one of the reasons is bad economy situation. In July 1997, the Asian financial crisis started and Hong Kong’s GDP was stagnant and even turns negative in 1998. And then in 2001, the global economic downturn led by U.S gave Hong Kong another strike. Later in 2003, the outbreak of Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) effected Hong Kong’s visitor arrivals and retail sales severely. Besides economy, regional competition from Macau and other Asian countries and the rise of new forms of illegal betting and offshore betting threated Hong Kong Jockey Club’s business. The vision of the club is to be a world leader in the provision of horse racing, sporting and betting entertainment and Hong Kong’s premier charity and community benefactor and their mission is to provide total customer satisfaction through meeting the expectations of all Club customers and stakeholders, which include the racing and betting public, lottery player, club members, charity and community organizations, government and people of Hong Kong, and be one of Hong Kong’s most respect organizations. Hong Kong Jockey Club had a talented management team and they input lots of money on IT construction to ensure their leading position and compete with illegal online gambling. In 2002, the club was awarded an exclusive license to operate football betting However, although the economy of Hong