Hong Kong Jockey Club targets online transition with new tech upgrades

The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) has unveiled three innovations as it looks to attract new customers to its digital offering during the 2020/21 racing season.

As part of a new strategy to bring customers online, HKJC has launched its first ewallet solution, allowing punters to bet without the use of cash and transferred funds in Off-Course Betting Branches (OCBB) via QR code scanning for the first time.

All bet slips are stored in the ewallet which uses biometric login capability. New customers can apply for an ewallet in less than six minutes, while existing account customers can automatically use the ewallet function without further registration.

Richard Cheung, HKJC executive director for customer and international business development, hailed the release of the operator’s “large portfolio” of new online and on-course betting enhancements in spite of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In parallel, we are also working on our third initiative which is online account opening and we are hopeful of its launch within the 2020/21 racing season. This will completely transform our account opening and funds transfer experience for the new generation of customers,” said Cheung.

From September, existing HKJC account holders will be able to access personalised racing notes for selected horses on their Racing Touch and eWin apps.

The club also has plans to pilot an AI-powered customer service chatbot for customer enquiries, beginning with betting information, betting app function and OCBB locations from April 2021.

Hong Kong’s racing season officially begins on 6 September.