Hong Kong - The Hong Kong Jockey Club is planning to extend the race season by five extra races in a bid to compete with neighbouring Macau and illegal bookmakers, the club confirmed Thursday.

The club has submitted a proposal to the government outlining the arguments in support of a longer season that would see the extra races taking place in July.

The current 78-meeting season ends at the beginning of July.

In a briefing held Wednesday, Hong Kong Jockey Club chief Winifried Engelbrecht-Bresges said a longer season would create more than 4,000 jobs in Hong Kong and help the club maintain the donation of 1 billion Hong Kong dollars (129 million US dollars) it gives to charity every year.

He also said it would prevent potential revenue from leaking out of the former British colony and into the coffers of illegal bookmakers, offshore casinos and the casinos of neighbouring Macau, the so-called Vegas of the East.

According to an independent survey conducted for the Jockey Club, Hong Kong punters lost around 20 billion Hong Kong dollars (2.57 billion US dollars) at Macau's casinos last year, double the amount of 2005.

Of this, 3.3 billion Hong Kong dollars in bets were lost in the summer months of July and August when the racing season in Hong Kong is closed.

The club's plan also proposes introducing 20 more simulcasts of overseas race meetings, which are expected to produce 36 million Hong Kong dollar in tax revenue for the government.

The proposal has been submitted to the government and will now be considered by the Lotteries and Gambling Commission.

But it has already angered Christian and anti-gambling organizations who says it will push gamblers into a dead-end.

Joe Tang, a supervisor with the Caritas Addicted Gamblers Counselling Centre, said a longer season would leave gamblers no time to reflect on their behaviour.

He said the club had treated 1,500 pathological gamblers since it opened in 2003 and receives at least 550 calls for help every month.

However, the Jockey Club argued the extra meeting was only a minor increase in the season that would not increase the number of gamblers or create any social issues.

Betting on horse racing and soccer matches through the Hong Kong Jockey Club and a weekly government-run lottery are the only legal forms of gambling in Hong Kong.

However, the city of 6.9 million has a huge black market of underground bookmakers and syndicates, while thousands of Hong Kong gamblers take the one-hour ferry journey to Macau every week to gamble in casinos.

Gambling is still the most lucrative source of tax for the Hong Kong government with the Jockey Club paying around 13 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.67 billion US dollars) in tax and betting duty. dpa