Hong Kong Jockey Club promotes director of trading to head up wagering arm

Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) have promoted Michael Fitzsimons from director of trading which mainly covers horse racing and football to executive director of wagering products.

Fitzsimons will assume this new role on 1 September and will take over the running of HKJC’s wagering business, which will cover the Mark 6 lottery as well as horse racing and football.

He will also be in charge of the firm’s international commingling business and China Sports Lottery cooperation development.

Fitzsimons will also become a part of the HKJC board and will report to the company’s CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.

This promotion comes as Fitzsimons approaches 18 months with the Asian operator.

Before he started at HKJC, Fitzsimons spent just over six years at The Stars Group, now a part of Flutter Entertainment. His roles at the firm included director of international trading and operations for the BetStars, Fox Bet and Sky Bet international businesses and department head for commercials.

Fitzsimons also worked as trading director at Gambit Research for just over two years, prior to this he was a director at Sporting Hedges. His other roles have included trading manager for Cantor Fitzgerald and a trader at Spreadex.

This news comes after the HKJC recorded a 3% year-on-year (YoY) rise in full-year turnover to HK$140bn (£14.9bn) for the 12 months ended 30 June 2022.

On the results, Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “Given the circumstances confronting the club, our overall season racing turnover of HK$140 billion represents a wonderful achievement. The growth in turnover is a testament to the quality of our product and the support of our customers.”