‘K Horse Racing’ Expands Its Territory to the World… Runs in 22 countries, including the UK
Exports in the first half of the year amounted to KRW 48.9 billion, the ‘highest ever’ Thanks to the advantage of being able to race all year round, including the Korea Cup and sprint competitions, off-season countries import live racing footage
Horse racing is one of the key sports promoted by Saudi Arabia, which is striving for ‘sports marketing’ at the national level.
The prize money for the ‘Saudi Cup’, a horse racing competition that boasts the world’s highest prize money, amounts to $20 million (about 26.4 billion won).
Adding operating costs, more than $40 million will be invested. 카지노사이트
Why does Saudi Arabia, which prohibits gambling under Islamic law, spend a lot of money on horse racing?
Experts say this is due to the global popularity and market size of horse racing, which is comparable to that of baseball, soccer, basketball, and golf.
A clear example is that the viewership ratings of the Kentucky Derby, one of the three major American horse racing competitions held in the United States last May, ranked second after the Super Bowl.
The Australian state of Victoria designates the day of the ‘Melbourne Cup’ horse racing as a public holiday.
The Korean Racing Association is expanding its territory in the ‘global horse racing war’ dominated by Saudi Arabia, the United States and Australia.
According to the Korea Racing Authority on the 4th, overseas sales of Korean horse racing content in the first half of this year were KRW 48.9 billion, the highest ever.
The 2021 annual performance (KRW 51.8 billion) was achieved in just 6 months. It increased by 18% compared to the first half of last year (KRW 40.1 billion).
This is thanks to the rapid increase in the number of countries purchasing ‘K Horse Racing’ broadcasts.
It nearly tripled in three years from 8 countries in 2019 (based on regular export countries) to 22 countries last year.
There are various regions such as Europe (United Kingdom, France, etc.), Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, etc.), North America (Canada), and Oceania (New Zealand).
As we are currently negotiating with South Africa and other countries, the number of export countries is likely to increase.
Experts cite ‘racing in all seasons’ as the reason Korean horse racing is popular overseas.
An official from the racing association explained, “There are only a few countries in the world that have racing all year round,” and “there are many countries that want to buy Korean content when there are no horse racing competitions.”
He continued, “As horse racing is a betting system, we tend to look for content from countries with high reliability and low possibility of manipulation.”
He added, “Korea’s rise to the ranks of advanced countries and the improved national image thanks to K-pop also helped expand K horse racing exports.” He said.
The racing association, which had difficulty holding normal horse racing due to COVID-19, quickly turned its attention overseas to gain new growth engines through revenue diversification.
We have been marketing the export of live racing footage as a key business necessary to become one of the top five horse industry powerhouses.
An official from the racing association explained, “We will restore public trust by reexamining the industrial value of horse racing through overseas business and foreign currency acquisition,” and added, “We are aiming to increase the value and awareness of Korean horse racing products in overseas markets.”
The international horse racing competitions Korea Cup (1800m) and Korea Sprint (1200m), which will open at ‘Let’s Run Park Seoul’ in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do on the 10th, are the core contents of ‘K Horse Racing’.
Korean horse racing is classified as Part 2, the second division of horse racing in the world, but the Korea Cup and Korea Sprint are exceptionally held and classified as first division level racing (IG3) due to their high popularity.
This year, as the total prize money for the two races increased to 3 billion won, up 1 billion won from last year (2 billion won), famous overseas horses rushed to take on the challenge.
The situation has completely changed from last year, when Korean racehorses lifted both championship trophies. The strongest candidate for the championship is Japan’s ‘Crown Pride’.
He is a top horse rider who has experienced all of the world’s best stages, including the Kentucky Derby, Saudi Cup, and Dubai World Cup.
Including Crown Pride, Japan is sending out 4 animals and Hong Kong is sending out 2 animals.
An official from the racing association said, “On the one day last year, the Korea Cup and Sprint were held, total sales generated from overseas purchasing voting tickets for our horse racing amounted to 35 billion won,” and added, “This year’s sales are expected to far exceed last year.”