LEAD: Betting on horse racing may return to mainland China

Asian Economic News, Jan 14, 2008

BEIJING, Jan. 11 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING COMMENTS FROM GAMBLING EXPERT)

China, where the only legal form of gambling on the mainland is buying a ticket for a state-run lottery, is considering allowing its people to bet on horse races, state media have reported.

The government has approved the holding of regular race meetings in the central city of Wuhan and is thinking about allowing betting there, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Thursday.

If approved, it would be the first time bets have legally been placed on horse races on the mainland since the Communist Party took power in 1949, the report said.

Horse racing and gambling are already popular pastimes in Hong Kong and Macao.

An unnamed manager at the group that will run the Wuhan track told Xinhua betting could be allowed as early as next year.

''Initially about 250 horses from different jockey clubs around the country will participate in the races,'' he said. ''But betting can only be officially launched when the races draw at least 2,000 horses.''

A spokeswoman with the China Sports Lottery Administration Center also confirmed to Xinhua that the government is considering allowing betting on horse races.

''The proposal for betting on horse racing is being reviewed and discussed, but there is no concrete information on when or whether it will begin,'' she said.

The sport was banned by the Communist Party in 1949, but was reintroduced in China in the early 1990s, the report said.

The government launched a campaign last November to close down illegal lotteries on the Internet, amid concern about the scale of illegal gambling in China.

Qin Zunwen, an expert in horse racing, told Xinhua that offering another legal outlet for betting could help stamp out the problem.

Experts say there is a huge market for gambling in Chinese communities, with Macao's casinos now officially generating more annual revenue than their rivals in Las Vegas.

Davis Fong, an expert on gambling based at the University of Macao, said, ''I don't think some Chinese' love of gambling is cultural. It's something which has been produced by recent social and economic history.''

''Over the past 100 years Chinese people have lived through so many disturbances and upheavals, they are quite used to taking risks.''