CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
POWER SCORE: 1,382
POSITION LAST YEAR: 9
CLAIMS TO FAME
- Driving force behind the modernization and revitalization of The HKJC
- Has helped The HKJC become Hong Kong’s biggest employer
- Has expanded global reach via commingling
WHAT MORE can be said about Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges that hasn’t been said after 15 years in the top job at The Hong Kong Jockey Club?
Possibly this: not even the most risk-aware, due diligence-addicted C-suite executive would have predicted a pandemic that would lay waste to the industry’s global profits and trigger wholesale structural shifts in earning power. The last three years have tested many, and many have failed.
But the Club under Engelbrecht-Bresges has gone from strength to strength, despite occasional racecourse closures to dedicated punters and periodic closures of the Club’s ever-popular lottery business.
Racing turnover for the 2021-2022 season rose 3% to a record HK$140 billion (US$17.8 billion), along with other record metrics in overall revenue and meeting numbers, and The HKJC’s strength in a time of economic suffering means its status as leading taxpayer has greatly increased.
Online and mobile platforms are now the overwhelming generator of revenue for the Club, with 90% of turnover coming from these sources – an example of the suppleness of the Club in embracing technology and global connectivity.
Total turnover in 2021-2022, including football betting and the Mark 6 lottery, came in at a record HK$290 billion (US$36.9 billion).
Equally, the Club has out-performed the rest of the city amid a domestic political and security environment that has hamstrung so much of Hong Kong and sent so many residents packing.
Whether through diligence or good luck – likely the former more than the latter – the Club has also avoided becoming politicized at this most sensitive of times. With ordinary Hong Kong punters supporting from the bottom, Hong Kong elites on the Board of Stewards and social networks providing widespread support, the Club offers a much-needed symbol of civic and corporate unity.
Engelbrecht-Bresges’ sturdy and steady presence has anchored a racing, lottery, hospitality and charity behemoth – and now major pandemic relief donor – and allowed Hong Kong to retain a semblance of what the city used to be, as other equally storied institutions falter.
The Club’s intimate corporate relationships with the rest of the Asian and global racing fraternities have also helped to buffer operations from potential downturns in revenue resulting from disruption of race meetings.
Commingling, championed by Engelbrecht-Bresges during his tenure, has proven a powerful link to the rest of the world, accounting for 18% of racing turnover.
Across the border, thoroughbred training and other operations at the Club’s Conghua Racecourse near Guangzhou continue to serve as integral mechanisms for not only the Club’s racing fundamentals, but also connectedness to corporate and political elites in Guangdong Province and further afield in China.
While greater investment in showcase racing events in other parts of China is likely to be dampened by China’s zero-COVID policy and ongoing official hesitancy to increase racing’s exposure, the Club is poised to move in whatever direction it wishes at the optimal time because of its sound finances and leadership.
After three years of pandemic exhaustion and socio-political distress, the Club’s prosperous record and its non-profit mandate are providing the symbolic and fiscal comfort that Hong Kong needs. And as CEO, Engelbrecht-Bresges deserves the greatest respect – and freedom to maneuver – as uncertain times roll on.
For the full list of 2022 Asian Gaming Power 50 winners, click here.
