Hong Kong people bet more than US$100 million on the first day of the horse racing season, in what is seen as a healthy sign for the territory’s economy, race organizers said yesterday.
Turnover on Sunday’s race day was HK$833 million (US$107.48 million), approximately HK$2 million more than on the opening day of the season last year.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the race organizer, described betting income from Sunday’s season opening at the Shatin race course as pleasing and said it was “cautiously optimistic” about the year ahead.
Income from horse races is seen as a reliable economic indicator in gambling-mad Hong Kong, where betting on horses, football and a weekly lottery are the only legal forms of gambling.
In the season that finished in July, total turnover for the 78 race days was down US$110 million to US$8.6 billion compared with the previous season.
The Hong Kong government has been given permission to arrange five extra race days from this season onwards to reverse the fall in gambling revenue caused by the global financial crisis.
Meanwhile, expatriates leave Hong Kong with unpaid tax bills totaling 3.6 million US dollars a year, a news report said yesterday.
The amount of tax written off because the debtor has left Hong Kong without paying up totals US$18 million over the past five years, the South China Morning Post said.
The city’s Inland Revenue Department is now facing calls to require all departing taxpayers to produce certificates stating they have settled their tax bills, the newspaper said.
Hong Kong is home to tens of thousands of British, American and Australian expatriates. Personal tax rates are 16 percent and the tax is usually paid in arrears at the year’s end.
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