HKJC Adds Six Up Pools as Local Turnover Slides but Total Racing Betting Rises 12.5%

The Hong Kong Jockey Club added Six Up pools while local race turnover fell, yet total racing turnover is up 12.5% to HK$24.8 billion after 13 meetings.

Gamingo NewsroomEditorial team

Published 30 October 20264 min read

The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) announced new Six Up and Double Trio wagering options on 28 September 2026, a day after local turnover at its 27 September Sha Tin meeting fell 11.5% to HK$1.359 billion, even as total racing turnover for the season is up 12.5% to HK$24.8 billion.

The split between the two figures is the story. Local turnover is under pressure, while wagering on overseas races is growing fast enough to lift the Club's overall numbers. The new pools sit squarely in that gap.

The Club is widening its multi-race pool offering on both overseas and local cards. According to the HKJC announcement, a Six Up pool for overseas simulcast races began on Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Day, 4 October 2026. It will then run on selected simulcast meetings with six or more races. Simulcast meetings are overseas fixtures offered to Hong Kong customers.

The Club will also run more than two Double Trio pools on designated simulcast meetings.

On local cards, a second Six Up pool started on 11 October 2026. It applies only to race days with 10 or more races and covers the first six races of the card.

The next promotion is already scheduled. An HKJC release dated 30 October 2026 announced HK$2 million in Six Up jackpot prizes for Melbourne Cup Day, due next Tuesday.

Local turnover is falling while total betting rises

The decline is concentrated in local races. Turnover on Sunday's 11-race Sha Tin card was down 11.5% on the same meeting a year earlier, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). It was the fifth fall in six meetings this season.

A later SCMP report, after 13 of the season's 88 local meetings, put the wider picture this way:

Measure	Figure
Sha Tin local turnover, 27 September 2026	HK$1.359 billion, down 11.5%
Meetings with a local decline, early season	Five of six
Total turnover, local and overseas races (13 of 88 meetings)	HK$24.8 billion, up 12.5%
Wagering on Hong Kong racing	Down 1.4%
Turnover from local customers	Down 5%
Commingling turnover	Up 5%
Hong Kong customers' turnover on local races	Down HK$624 million
Hong Kong customers' turnover on overseas races	Up HK$2.3 billion

The last two figures come from the chief executive's blog, as cited by SCMP. Commingling turnover partly offset the drop in local customers' wagering.

For scale, The Standard reported that HKJC racing turnover for 2025/26 reached HK$143.3 billion. The early-season local dip is therefore a small slice of a large base, but the direction matters for a market that depends on local customer engagement.

Why local racing is under pressure

The Club points to thin liquidity and a narrow local customer base. According to SCMP, the chief executive called the early decline a concern, noted that some trainers were holding horses back in hot weather, and said local races lack liquidity. He also stressed the need to widen the local customer base.

Gambling.com, reporting on the same coverage, adds that he cited a "cannibalisation effect" from commingled and simulcast racing. The numbers are consistent with that reading: overseas wagering by Hong Kong customers rose by more than three times the amount local-race wagering fell.

The structural backdrop is not new. HKJC's own results release for 2023/24 recorded a 9.3% fall in local racing turnover that year. In the same period football accounted for HK$160.27 billion of a HK$304.88 billion total, about 52.6%, so racing is no longer the majority of the Club's wagering. Hong Kong has also drawn a firm line on expansion elsewhere; see earlier coverage of Hong Kong's decision against legalizing basketball betting.

What operators and analysts should watch

The test is whether extra pools lift local engagement, not just overseas volume. The new Six Up and Double Trio pools add jackpot-style products, and the Melbourne Cup Day promotion shows the Club using them as marketing hooks around marquee overseas fixtures. The local Six Up pool, limited to cards with 10 or more races, targets the home market directly.

Two measures will show whether the strategy works: turnover from local customers, currently down 5%, and Hong Kong customers' wagering on local races, currently down HK$624 million. If those stabilize while overseas wagering keeps growing, the Club's headline growth will be backed by healthier local activity.

Other regional and domestic markets offer reference points on how monthly turnover reporting is read. See Gamingo's coverage of Nevada's flat September gaming win, earlier reporting on Macau's casino earnings, and the racing-sponsorship angle in Betfred's Derby Festival extension.

Status reviewed on 30 October 2026. Figures come from HKJC announcements and its 2023/24 results release, plus South China Morning Post reporting on early-season turnover. More business news and Asia coverage.

Frequently asked questions

What is the new Six Up pool the Hong Kong Jockey Club introduced?

On 28 September 2026 the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced a Six Up pool for overseas simulcast races. It began on Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Day on 4 October 2026 and will run on selected simulcast meetings with six or more races. A second local Six Up pool started on 11 October 2026.

Is Hong Kong horse racing turnover falling in the 2026/27 season?

It depends on the measure. Local turnover at Sha Tin on 27 September fell 11.5% to HK$1.359 billion, and turnover from local customers is down 5%. Total turnover on local and overseas races, however, is up 12.5% to HK$24.8 billion after 13 of 88 meetings, according to SCMP.

When does the extra local Six Up pool apply?

From 11 October 2026, the Hong Kong Jockey Club offers a second Six Up pool on local race days with 10 or more races. The additional pool covers the first six races of the card. Race days with fewer than 10 races do not get the extra pool.

Why is local turnover falling at the Hong Kong Jockey Club?

According to the South China Morning Post, the Club's chief executive called the decline a concern and pointed to thin liquidity in local races and a need to widen the local customer base. Gambling.com's report of the same coverage adds a cannibalisation effect from commingled and simulcast racing, and some trainers holding horses back in hot weather.

How much of Hong Kong Jockey Club wagering is football?

In the 2023/24 financial year, football turnover was HK$160.27 billion of a HK$304.88 billion total, about 52.6%, according to the Hong Kong Jockey Club's own results release. That is the most recent full-year split among the sources cited here.