SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
On the surface, Indian horse racing is growing strongly. Annual betting turnover rose 53.2 percent to INR 30.25 billion ($498.5 million) between 2006 and 2011, according to figures provided to the International Federation of Horse racing Authorities. The annual number of races run rose 28.2 percent to 3,312 over the period.
But there are signs of disquiet. “There haven’t been many new owners or a younger crowd for that matter in recent years,” says Zeyn Mirza, managing director of United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders, a stud farm in southern India. “Youngsters today have other avenues to spend their money on.”
No new tracks have opened in years and government officials are moving to take over landmark tracks in Mumbai and Bangalore to convert the prized open urban land to other uses. Archaic management systems and an elitist culture have contributed to the difficulties. Meanwhile, the widening bet fixing scandal enveloping the Indian Premier League cricket competition has raised questions about whether racing is tainted too and how much betting is going on outside legal channels.
Yet there are reasons for optimism too. Punjab has drafted legislation to govern track operations and betting which are now being reviewed by the state legal department. The laws will support plans to develop a racecourse on 150 acres of a 700acre tourism complex in Mattewara that will be a quarter owned by the government. Earlier talk of including a casino has been dropped, but the project is likely to include a hotel and theme park.
Horse racing came to India with British colonists who opened the country’s first track in Chennai in 1777. When the British left in 1947, about 47 tracks were operating around the country. Today however just nine are left: Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Ooty, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mysore and Delhi. The closure of the Bangalore track is only a matter of time. After years of debate, the Karnataka state high court ruled in 2010 that the Bangalore Turf Club had to leave its city center location with the expiration of its lease on government land then, but the club has so far successfully stalled on moving to a new site on the city’s outskirts. Last month, state housing
minister M.H. Ambareesh clashed at a cabinet meeting with chief minister Siddaramaiah over implementing the court’s order as Ambareesh argued the move could cost the jobs of hundreds of workers.
The outlook for the Royal Western India Turf Club Ltd.’s track at Mahalaxmi in south Mumbai is even more hazy. The club’s 99year lease on its 225acre property expired in May. The club has asked for an extension, acknowledging that it would need to raise its rent from the current annual level of INR 5.6 million ($92,00), but that request is in limbo amid divisions between the city and state governments, which each own part of the site but are controlled by different political parties. The Shiv Sena, which controls the city government, is seeking to convert the racecourse into a public garden or theme park. However Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of Maharashtra state, told legislators last month he is not considering that, without hinting further at his plans. Such clashes will likely face most of India’s remaining tracks as only Hyderabad Race Club owns its course.
Punjab’s planned Mattewara course though offers a different model. More than 30 stud farms already operate in the state, with their horses going to other states for racing. By setting up a course in the state, the authorities hope to support the industry’s further growth. The planned public private partnership to operate the venture will keep the government on board as a partnerwith a stake in the industry’s development.
“Here are people who genuinely love horses, love to race them and will invest in them,” says Surbirinder Singh Sidhu, director of Mebajeona Stud Farm in Punjab. “The potential of this income for the government is huge and the Punjab government has had the foresight to tap into this.”
The Punjab Infrastructure Development Board, which is leading the project, plans to allow betting at the track and an offcourse center in Mohali, with an eye to cutting out bookies from the action. An issue will be the tax level set, as high rates in some states have driven bets to illegal bookies or licensed bookies who take some bets off the books. Illegal betting volumes in Bangalore are believed to be triple that of the local turf club’s INR 15 billion, for example.
Illegal betting in turn can lead to problems with corruption. “The quantum of corruption is rarel revealed in India,” says a track official who thinks the government needs to face the issue more directly. “We need to change and improve our frame of mind, our infrastructure and our integrity.”
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