Horse Racing in Macau

Horse racing was one of Macau's oldest gambling attractions, with more than 40 years of history at the Taipa Racecourse, but its appeal to local residents and tourists had been declining for years before the end came⁵. This page covers what happened, what a race day at Taipa was like while racing still ran, how betting worked, and the races and prizes that made the club known beyond Macau. For what you can still play today, see gambling in Macau.

Horse racing in Macau has ended: the final meeting and closure

The Macau Horse Racing Company Limited, which ran the Macau Jockey Club, officially ended horse racing operations on April 1, 2024⁶. The concession contract was terminated by mutual agreement between the company and the Macau SAR government, and horse racing activities ceased from that date⁵.

The last race meeting was held on Saturday, March 30, 2024, with 14 races at Taipa¹. It was a low-key send-off for a sport that had once been a fixture of Macau life. By the final weeks, the club had cut the number of races from a peak of 15 per day down to just five per day⁷.

The closure did not come out of nowhere. In August 2023, the club had already canceled its television broadcast of races, and staff reported being told that the club would operate only until December 31 of that year once the new season started on September 29⁸. The club had applied to the government for the next season's race schedule, running from September to August, and was still waiting for approval when the end was announced⁸.

The club's small casino, the Macau Jockey Club Casino, had already been temporarily closed back in 2021, so by the final meeting the racing operation was the last piece still running⁹.

Why the Macau Jockey Club gave up its concession

The termination was the club's idea. In 2023, the Macau Horse Race Company submitted a request to the government to end its concession, citing operating difficulties and saying that horse racing could no longer meet the current development needs of society⁵. The government agreed, and the contract was dissolved by mutual agreement under the existing law and the concession contract¹⁰.

The club pointed to a shrinking racing market, declining racing activity, and three years of pandemic impact as the reasons it could not continue³. The government's own assessment was that racing activities were failing to generate the economic and social benefits they should¹.

The numbers tell the story of a concession that ran out of road. The club walked away from its racing franchise concession 18 years early, by mutual agreement with the government¹¹. The government also decided it would not grant any new horse racing concession, and said it had no intention of re-tendering racing operations at the same site³.

One detail softened the landing for members: the club retained its member facilities so that members could continue to use them after racing ended¹¹.

Taipa Racecourse: what happened to the venue and the land

The Taipa Racecourse, on the island of Taipa next to the casino strip, was the only venue for horse racing in Macau. When the concession ended, the land and facilities did not stay with the club.

During a transition period, the government temporarily made the racecourse facilities available to the club so it could relocate its horses⁵. The club was required to transfer its existing horses out of Macao by March 31, 2025⁵.

On April 1, 2024, the racecourse land and facilities reverted to the Macau SAR government free of charge and were placed in the government's land reserve². The government confirmed that the land occupied by the club and its facilities would be returned to the state⁷. What eventually gets built on the site has not been settled, but racing will not be part of it, since the government has ruled out a new racing concession at the location³.

What a race day at Taipa was like

For most of its life, the club ran a steady weekly rhythm. The race season ran from September each year to the end of August the following year, with at least 66 race meetings per year⁴. In the 2004/05 season, for example, the club held 100 meetings: 42 day races and 58 night races, generally two meetings per week on Tuesday and Saturday, or Tuesday and Sunday, switching to Wednesday and Saturday in July and August. Day race meetings started at 2:00 pm with 12 races, and night meetings started at 7:30 pm with 10 races⁴.

In later years the pattern settled into three types of race day: day races, dusk (twilight) races and night races¹². A typical week had two race days, with night races on Friday and day or twilight races on Saturday or Sunday¹³.

Attendance and field sizes had thinned long before the end. The final seasons saw the club cut from 15 races per day at its peak to five, a sign of how few horses and bettors were left⁷.

How and where you could bet on Macau racing

Betting on Macau horse racing was a pari-mutuel operation, meaning payouts depended on how much money was in each pool and how many people held winning tickets, not on fixed odds set by a bookmaker.

You could bet in four ways⁴:

• At the track, on course at Taipa during race meetings
• At off-course betting centers, of which the club ran 13 around Macau for cash betting
• By telephone, through the club's telephone betting service
• Online, through the club's official website

Placing bets over the phone or online was regulated for horse racing in Macau, as it was for greyhound racing and the sports lottery¹⁴. The minimum age for horse racing betting, along with football and basketball betting, was 18¹⁵.

The club's customer inquiry line in Macau was (853) 2882 0868¹², and its website at mjc.mo carried race information, results and betting rules; both are now only of historical interest since the club stopped operating¹⁰.

Betting from Hong Kong

The arrangement between the two territories only worked one way. The Hong Kong Jockey Club offered a one-way betting arrangement on Hong Kong races for Macau residents, meaning people in Macau could bet on Hong Kong racing at authorized venues¹⁶. There was no arrangement in the other direction: the Hong Kong Jockey Club stated it had no plan to allow two-way betting with Macau, so people in Hong Kong could not bet on Macau races through legal channels¹⁷.

Hong Kong law went further. Under the Gambling Ordinance, it is illegal for a person in Hong Kong to place a bet with any unauthorized bookmaker, irrespective of where the bet is received, and that includes bookmakers in Macau¹⁷. Betting with the Macau Jockey Club's off-course betting branches from Hong Kong was described as a criminal offense¹⁸. When Hong Kong residents were allowed to bet into Hong Kong pools at authorized Macau venues, only certain bet types were approved: the win bet, place bet, double bet, quinella bet, forecast bet and quinella place bet¹⁹.

Bet types and payouts, including the Treble

Macau horse racing offered a full range of pari-mutuel pools. The permitted bet types based on horse racing results were: pari-mutuel winner, pari-mutuel places, quinella, forecast, double win, double quinella, trio, trifecta, triplo vencedor, quarteto and six up¹⁴. Alongside these, three lotteries were permitted on horse racing: the cash sweep (ordinary and special), the winner sweep and the places sweep¹⁴.

Here is what the main bet types meant:

Payouts depended entirely on the pools. The 11:1 figure sometimes quoted for a Trio is the payout for the roulette Trio bet, on the numbers 0, 1 and 2 or 0, 2 and 3, not a horse racing Trio payout²⁰.

The Treble

A Treble is a single bet on three selections in three different races or events, and all three selections must be successful for you to get a return²¹. In racing pool betting, the Treble asks you to select the winning horse in each of three specific races at the same meeting, with the races nominated by the operator in advance²². Some operators also offered Flexi betting on Trebles, letting you take a fraction of the full bet for a proportionate share of the payout²³.

The club also offered a mixed multiple bet, known in Chinese as a mixed uplet, which required at least two legs²⁴.

Simulcast races from Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere

Live racing did not stop at Macau's borders. The club broadcast races from Hong Kong, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, so punters could watch and bet on international meetings from the Taipa stands and off-course centers¹³.

The biggest draw among these was Hong Kong racing. Hong Kong's own club is the only racing club and legal bookmaker authorized by the government there, with a monopoly on horse race betting, football betting and a lottery²⁵. Its two courses, Happy Valley and Sha Tin, were packed twice a week during a racing season that ran from September to July, so there was always something for Macau punters to watch and bet on when the local track was dark.

The Hong Kong Macau Trophy and its 1400-meter distance

The standout race linking the two racing jurisdictions was the Hong Kong Macau Trophy. It was a Group 3 handicap run over 1400 meters on the turf at Sha Tin in Hong Kong²⁶. The 2012 edition was held on Saturday, March 10, 2012²⁶. Prize money ran deep into the field, with fifth place earning $84,000²⁶.

The race was part of a regular exchange between the two clubs, with horses traveling in both directions for interterritorial contests, and it gave Macau-based horses a shot at a Hong Kong Group race, something few of them got elsewhere²⁷.