Racehorses dash out of the starting gate at a race in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Photo: IC

The starting gate opened and 14 horses dashed to the finish line, 1,000 meters away, in under two minutes.

This was just one of the races held as part of the 2014 National Speed Racing Championship in Wuhan, Hubei Province in late October.

Spectators who entered a free prize draw and correctly guessed the winning horse were lucky enough to win prizes randomly selected by computers, ranging from inexpensive wines, bicycles and - the biggest prize of all - an iPhone, -the Southern Weekly reported on October 30.

Carefully managing the "guessing game" was the competition's organizers, who sought to dispel any suspicions that gambling might be taking place.

"Why can't we bet on the races like in Hong Kong?" a foreigner asked.

" We just can't. It is forbidden on the mainland," answered a Chinese spectator, the younger brother of the racetrack owner.

Precedents

In March 2002, two months after the central government prohibited racing lotteries where people buy tickets and stand a chance to win money by guessing the winning horse, racetrack owner Jacky Wu Yuet-Ko insisted on building the Orient Lucky City Racetrack in Wuhan.

"The only thing driving the growth of the horse racing industry is betting," Wu, who was born in Hong Kong, told the Southern Weekly. Horse racing enjoys immense popularity in Hong Kong, with the money wagered on horses amounting to HK$ 80 - 100 billion ($10 - 13 billion) a year.

After the 67-hectare racetrack that boasts a 1,620-meter long track and a stable of 500 horses was completed in 2003, the first Wuhan International Horse-racing Festival was held that year in a bid to "provide a platform for the future promotion of betting on horse races," according to Wu.

If betting on horse races was permitted in Wuhan, it would bring in sales revenue of 100 billion yuan ($16.35 billion) and tax revenue of 40 billion yuan, as well as create 3 million job opportunities, according to a local research group.

Since these commercial factors coincide with the government's ambitions to develop the economy, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from Hubei proposed a trial run of sanctioned horse racing lotteries for three consecutive years, from 2004 onwards.

But the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC) stated in 2008 that "there is no timetable regarding the issue of horse racing lotteries."

Racecourses have sprouted up in Beijing; Nanjing, Jiangsu Province; Chengdu, Sichuan Province; Jinan, Shandong Province; Kunming, Yunnan Province; and Shenyang, Liaoning Province, just waiting for the government to allowing betting .

A racecourse was built in Nanjing for the 2005 National Games, and it was thought that it could be used as a venue for horse races if the ban on betting was ever lifted. But it fell into disuse and was eventually became a parking lot.

In Beijing, the Tongshun Racecourse imported 1,000 horses and received a verbal permission from the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau to start holding races where betting took place. However, after being ordered to halt gambling activities, the owner, Li Qiu, slaughtered and buried hundreds of horses in November 2005, widely seen as a protest against the ban.

More fences to jump

Lillian Davies, an honorary member of the 48 Group Club - formed in the early 1950s to facilitate trade between Britain and China - has become the latest advocate for gambling and horse racing in China while serving as Secretary General of China Jockey Club.

The Jockey Club started its advocacy on September 22. The plan proposed that the money raised by racing lotteries would be contributed to the government, charities and the horse racing industry, the People's Daily's overseas edition reported on October 15.

This report drove up the prices of several racing-related stocks and provoked speculation that the government might lift its ban on betting on horse races, as it was widely assumed that the Jockey Club was connected with the government.

However, the club has yet to be officially registered as an social organization. Several organizations associated with government, that reportedly attending the launch ceremony, denied any connection with the club, the South Weekly reported.

"We aren't just waiting for the government's policy to change, but are taking the initiative and cooperating with the British Government and European Commission to draw on their experiences of the running and management of horse racing, as the sport originated in the UK and is popular among European countries."

"China is virgin territory for horse racing as no laws or regulations dealing with the sport have been drafted yet. This blankness actually offers us an opportunity to provide a good example of how the horse racing business could be run and to pave the way for the formulation of official regulations as a result of exchanges with European countries regarding potential regulations and laws," Davies said.

Discordant government bodies

The horse racing industry is currently administered by several different government departments. The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the breeding of horses, the GASC for competitions, the Ministry of Finance for lotteries and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine for the inspection of horses being imported and exported.

None of the departments have yet been able to coordinate the management of horse racing and put forward an integrated development plan, commented the Southern Weekly.

"The cause of this discordance lies in the departments' unwillingness to take on responsibility," said Wang Zhenshan, a member of the China Horse Industry Association.

"Allowing horse-racing lotteries means lifting the previous ban. Who would dare?" said Chang Wei, former Secretary General of the Chinese Equestrian Association.

Thus, the China Jockey Club are trying to take on the responsibilities that others shirked, to lay the ground work for future regulations when they produced their plans for the industry, Davies said.