Land development plans announced for Kranji racecourse site

The Singapore Turf Club will hold its last race on Oct 5, 2024, and close its facility by March 2027, the government and the club announced on Monday, June 5, 2023¹. The 120 hectares of land in Kranji that is home to the Singapore Racecourse will be redeveloped and used for housing, including public housing, the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Finance said in a joint press release¹. The government is also studying other potential uses, including leisure and recreation¹.

The club was founded in 1842 and is Singapore's only horse racing club¹. Its history page records that it began as the Singapore Sporting Club, founded by Scottish merchant William Henry Macleod Read and a group of horse racing enthusiasts, and that the $500 million, 124-hectare Kranji Racecourse opened on Aug 7, 1999 after five years of construction². The Tote Board's annual report for FY2023/24 states that the club held its last race on Oct 5, 2024 and will close its facility by FY2026³. The club's own history page says it will close its facility by March 2027². The two dates for the closure differ.

Attendance had fallen for years. The average attendance per race day declined from 11,000 in 2010 to about 6,000 in 2019, and after the racecourse reopened in 2022 the average was about 2,600 spectators per race day, half of pre-COVID levels¹. Tote Board chief executive Fong Yong Kian said racing makes about S$400,000 per race, and the Tote Board sees a total turnover of S$1.1 billion per year as of 2023¹. The turnover of horse wagering as a percentage of total Tote Board Group turnover has halved⁴.

About 350 employees were expected to be affected, with all of them retrenched in phases and the first phase starting about 16 months from the announcement¹. They were to receive retrenchment packages aligned with Ministry of Manpower requirements and guidelines, plus transition support including counseling, job placement assistance, personal career guidance and skills training¹. Racehorse trainers and owners were to receive support for horse maintenance and exportation, with the exportation of the horses expected to be completed by 2026¹. There were about 700 racehorses at the club⁴.

At 120 ha, the Kranji site is about 30 percent bigger than the 93 ha Bidadari Housing Board Development estate¹.

What it means for players

Singapore Pools will continue to offer betting on overseas horse racing, Fong said¹. The Tote Board annual report describes Singapore Pools as established by the Singapore government on May 23, 1968 to provide safe and trusted betting to counter illegal gambling, with surpluses channeled to the Tote Board to fund causes in social service, community development, sports, arts, education and health³. The Tote Board exercises oversight of Singapore Pools' and the club's corporate governance, including strategic directions and significant business decisions related to socially responsible gaming, countering illegal gambling and horse racing, and works with the Gambling Regulatory Authority to foster responsible gambling³.

For local racing, the final race meeting was held on Oct 5, 2024, featuring the 100th Grand Singapore Gold Cup². The club's history page records that Singapore Pools took over all horse betting operations from the club while the club focused on horse racing². No replacement local racecourse has been reported.

What happens next

The land will be returned to the government in 2027 to allow for land preparation and redevelopment⁴. The government said it will provide a timely update on the land use plans to give affected stakeholders time to make arrangements¹. When asked about the potential number of public housing units on the site, Indranee Rajah said it would be too early to say because it has to be part of a wider plan for the northern region¹.