The Hong Kong Jockey Club has enhanced its wagering entertainment offerings ahead of the 2020/21 season, which will commence on Sunday, 6 September.

Mr. Richard Cheung, Executive Director, Customer and International Business Development said, “I would like to thank our team for a large portfolio of new initiatives this coming season, despite the challenges of COVID-19, the team has worked hard on new wagering enhancements, digital transformation as well as a range of exciting new physical channel formats.”

A. New Bet-type Arrangements commencing in September

Forecast launch
The Forecast is a classic bet-type which requires the selection of the first and second horses in correct finishing order, offering a potentially more attractive return to customers than the Quinella. This bet type is a well-established one in commingling markets and the Club also expects a positive response from domestic customers.

Trio/Forecast Merge Pool and Take-out Reduction
The Forecast will be merged with the Trio via the HKJC’s merge pool technology to increase pool liquidity at a takeout rate of 19.5%. This also means the Trio takeout rate will decrease by 5.5%, down from 25%, thereby providing more value to our mass customers.

Rebate increase for Quinella and Quinella Place
The losing bet rebate for both the Quinella and Quinella Place (for HK$10,000+ losing tickets or betline) bet-types will increase from 10% to 12% for bets on all local races. Since Quinella and Quinella Place are the key offerings by illegal operators, the Club will now be in a better position to combat the discounts offered by these illegal operators and channel demand back for good causes.

B. Digital Transformation of Customer Experience

The Club will continue to build on its digital transformation of the wagering experience – the Smart Channel Strategy. Mobile betting apps, HKJC TV, HKJC Customer eCentre, FPS funds transfer are all innovations in the past few years with significant customer up-take. These platforms have been helping the Club to sustain key services to customers during COVID-19 when physical channels have to be closed. This year our customers can expect three new innovations:

O2O (offline to online) experience – HKJC eWallet
Following FPS funds transfer, the HKJC eWallet is another key offering under the concept of O2O integration. For traditional “cash-betting” customers, the HKJC eWallet allows customers to enjoy a cashless betting and funds transfer experience in Off-Course Betting Branches (OCBB) via QR code scanning. Betting tickets are stored in the eWallet, avoiding the loss of tickets. Dividends can be credited to the eWallet directly without additional queuing or registration. Customers can select to use biometric log-on to their eWallet minimising the need to remember so many passwords.

New customers can apply their HKJC eWallet at our branches within 6 minutes, a faster time than the opening of a full betting account.

It is important to note, the HKJC eWallet integrates seamlessly to a customer’s traditional betting account and displays as one balance. All existing account customers can automatically use the eWallet function without further registration.

“The FPS and HKJC eWallet are two core developments of the Club’s digital onboarding experience under the O2O concept. In parallel, we are also working on our third initiative which is online account opening and we are hopeful of its launch within the 2020/21 racing season. This will completely transform our account opening and funds transfer experience for the new generation of customers,” said Mr. Cheung.

Digital Personalisation – ‘Racing Notes’
Launching in September 2020, racing fans with HKJC betting accounts will be able to record and retrieve their own insights with personalised racing notes for selected horses on both Racing Touch and eWin.

“Many racing fans I know like to take paper-based notes on horses that catch their attention – such as preferred race-distances or favoured running conditions. This new feature allows fans to digitally integrate their personal notes to the betting platform for handy future reference. This is also one step towards our theme of digital personalisation development, which is a big trend in the eCommerce world,” said Mr. Cheung.

AI Customer Service Chatbot
To ensure a high level of customer service, as well as remaining in style for younger generation customers, the Club will pilot an ‘AI Customer Service Chatbot’ for customer enquiries. The domain coverage of the Chatbot will increase over-time, beginning with betting information, betting app function and usage, OCBB locations as well as booking enquiries.

The ‘AI Customer Service Chatbot’ will be available on Racing Touch, Classic 3-in-1, eWin and HKJC Customer eCentre from April 2021.

C. OCBB (Off-Course Betting Branches) and Racecourse Renovation

OCBB Renovation
While the Club continues to focus on digital experience, the continued investment in OCBBs is needed to cater for the evolving needs of our retail customers, especially younger adults.

The coming season is the first year for us to bring a more customer-focused and experience-driven format to our racing fans in contrast to the traditional OCBB formats. Two OCBBs, North Point (Electric Road) and Mong Kok (Dundas Street) will complete their renovation and deliver racing fans new format experience before October 2020.

As a breakthrough format, the 14,000-square feet Electric Road branch will be the first one in the Club that integrates a betting shop with a Wins Café concept. Wins Café is a very popular venue in the racecourse and the Club would like to bring the same concept to racing fans outside the racecourse.

The Dundas Street branch is renovated with a modern design, incorporating an App Lab to educate customers on the usage of digital platforms, as well as a dedicated football zone.

Racecourse Masterplan
This season, two new venues will be available for oncourse customers: namely, the renovated Dining Room at The Racing Club featuring hot-pot dinners at the Happy Valley Racecourse as well as a new spacious public betting hall on (2/F) in Grandstand II that offers spacious seating for up to 210 racing fans.

For enquiries, please visit www.hkjc.com. All racegoers and customers must be aged 18 or above.

Attachment: Factsheet – New initiatives for 2020/21 season