A pilot horse race lottery might be launched before 2008 in
China with Wuhan as one of the candidate cities, according to a
report by China News Service.
Related government departments have put horse race lotteries on
the agenda, Liu Zhiren, a counselor of the State Council, revealed
at the International Horse Race Festival in Wuhan, capital of
central China's Hubei Province.
Liu indicated that a joint proposal had been made by the city of
Wuhan, Hubei Province and several other member political advisers
to the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference on issuing horse race lotteries.
In the past, local governments have built parks for horse
racing, attempting to revive a domestic horse industry by using
foreign expertise in running horse race lotteries. But most of them
have been shut down for suspected involvement in gambling outside
of the lottery system.
In the early 1990s, Guangzhou was chosen by the government as a
pilot city for horse race wagering, but the practice was halted in
1999.
As a sport, horse racing is popular in more than 80 countries
and regions around the world. Equestrian sports are also an
official event in the Olympic Games.
The four-day International Horse Race Festival held in Wuhan
last week was one of the few such events held by domestic cities to
both promote horse racing as a sport and lobby the central
government to issue horse race lotteries.
As a new type of sport lottery, horse racing is said to have
great potential to raise money for the sports industry in China.
The money raised could be used to breed fine varieties of horses,
which is essential to improving China's overall level of
horsemanship competition.
The State Sport General Administration (SSGA)'s lottery
administration centre is in charge of sport lotteries in China.
(China Daily October 7, 2006)