Put money on the ponies to help pay for Olympics
If the Chinese government has any trepidation about shouldering the projected $25 billion price tag for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, legalized horse racing and sports betting could provide some respite.
An entertainment tax deducted from the billions of yuan wagered around the country would generate enormous revenues that could then be channeled directly into paying for the Games.
The prospect of legal horse racing and expanded sports lotteries received a big boost in April when the government announced the southern resort island of Hainan would become a free trade zone. According to a set of guidelines published by Xinhua, the island will “explore the development of sports lotteries on large-scale international competitions” and also look at bringing horse racing back to the mainland.
Even though the cost of the 2022 Games will be significantly lower than the $40 billion it took for Beijing to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the numbers are still staggering. The Wall Street Journal estimates the new national sliding center for bobsledding and luge will run to at least $257 million, while the venue for ski racing will cost around $310 million. A Nordic center for ski jumping is pegged at $250 million. Those are just three examples.
Beyond the vast sums needed to construct new facilities, billions more will be required for high-speed rail lines or expressways to link the three Olympic zones.
That’s where the ponies can ride to the rescue.
For nearly 150 years — from 1798 to 1941 — horse racing was a popular public entertainment in China, with more than 30 tracks in operation. The sport continued to flourish following World War II, and after the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, races were still held about 300 days a year in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai until the mid-1990s. But in January 2000 the sport was banned, and today is staged only in Hong Kong.
Even during the boom years, a constant impediment to “the sport of kings” in China was the lack of a central organizing body to oversee administration on a national scale. Although wagering was officially prohibited, smallscale betting on race results was tacitly allowed. Unfortunately, some tracks got carried away with the prospect of big profits, prompting the government to pull the plug.
But now that Hainan has been given the green light, horse racing and sports wagering have a chance to return to the national mainstream. And history proves it’s a winning combination — particularly for paying for an Olympics.
Even with astronomical overruns and a bloated, corrupt hierarchy that ended up costing Canadian taxpayers more than 15 times the original estimate, the price of staging the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal was recouped through the establishment of a national lottery.
Four decades later, the Canadian sports lottery system has evolved into the most elaborate and successful on the planet, annually generating billions of dollars to fund everything from hospitals and schools to amateur athletic programs. Every hour, 365 days a year, millions of Canadians legally wager on professional hockey, baseball, basketball, football, soccer and horse racing — and the federal and provincial governments grab a hefty piece of the action via built-in taxes.
For the gamblers, it’s a fun and easy way to feel more connected to their favorite sports. For the government, it’s a goldmine.
Giddy up, China. It’s a safe bet the same thing would happen here.