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It is the hope of horse racing enthusiasts that online sales of horse racing (Geombit Horse Racing) should be implemented as soon as the bill is passed. As of now, even if the Korea Racing Authority Act is revised, this is if the supplementary provisions are confirmed as requested by the government (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs), which will only be implemented one year from the date of passage.

On February 22, four bills were passed in the form of alternative legislation (committee) at the National Assembly's Agricultural and Marine Affairs Bill Review Subcommittee. In the subcommittee, the National Assembly bill was "implemented after 3 months," but the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs insisted on "implementation after a one-year delay," and the National Assembly accepted this. I'm in the mood to do it.

In the case of bicycle racing, this is in contrast to the fact that the bill was implemented immediately after it was passed, and the detailed enforcement ordinance and enforcement rules were established only a year later.

The online sale of bicycle racing was implemented without revision of the enforcement ordinance or rules when it was implemented (August 6) two months after the revision of the "Bicycle Racing Act" (June 15, 2021), and the enforcement ordinance and rules were revised only in 2022 (May 12).

The online lotto lottery was implemented (December 2018) two years after the introduction law (Lottery and Lottery Fund Act) was passed (March 2016), but the purpose was to increase the number of sales outlets by 2,000 before implementation (the goal is to operate a total of 9,845 over 3 years from 2015), and even after implementation by 2025. We are recruiting an additional 3,000 stores (reduction in abandonment + new recruitment) with the goal of increasing the number to 9,582 by 2018. Instead of reducing the number of stores by going online, we are increasing the number of stores.

Online sales of horse racing culture (electronic betting tickets) have been attempted to be introduced for a long time, but in December 2019, at the time of Chairman Kim Nak-soon, Rep. Kang Chang-il first proposed legislation as a representative.

At that time, it was before the outbreak of COVID-19, and Lotto and Toto (sports promotion voting ticket) were already being sold electronically (online), so horse racing also tried to introduce a sales method that responded to the IT trend.

However, with the spread of COVID-19 from the end of 2019, admission to horse racing was suspended, and horse racing sales, which were expected to be around 8 trillion won through “horse racing without spectators,” plummeted to around 1 trillion won in 2020 and 2021 in a row, respectively, and the need for online sales became urgent.

In foreign countries, sales did not decrease even with COVID-19 and online sales without an audience.

In this atmosphere, from August to November 2020, four members of the National Assembly proposed amendments to introduce online horse racing sales.

However, horse racing, which crashed for two years in a row, is almost recovering its sales (KRW 6.3969 trillion in 2022) as COVID-19 calms down and customers are allowed to enter.

Under these circumstances, horse racing, which used to run at one o'clock a day, has now seemingly forgotten the urgency of online sales (electronic betting tickets), as if they have forgotten COVID-19. The government is slowly revising the law, conducting a pilot operation, and officially introducing electronic betting tickets a year later.

Of course, the introduction of electronic betting is not only a means of responding to infectious diseases such as COVID-19, but also, "Considering the trend of the times, where online horse racing is taking place in almost all countries, it is necessary to conduct online horse racing, and that is due to the management of the racing association due to the coronavirus. The statement by the Vice Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs that “it is necessary regardless of the crisis” (remarks made on February 22, 2023 in the so-called review of the Agricultural and Marine Water Level Bill) is encouraging.

However, the racing association, which has been preparing for the introduction of electronic betting since the Seoul Horse Racing Initiative, is perplexed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' position that it will not be implemented after a three-month preparation period but will be implemented after "trial operation one year after passage of the law."

It has now passed the bill review subcommittee, and has decided to submit it as an alternative legislation to the Agriculture, Sea, and Water Commissioner, so going forward, there are still procedures to pass the agricultural and marine water levels and passage in the plenary session. Even if it is passed within the year, it will take too long to implement it until next year. The same goes for formal implementation after 6 months of pilot operation.

At the very least, it is desirable to implement it immediately like in the case of bicycle racing. Although the government is demanding strict verification procedures such as biometric authentication and real-name device registration, it is understandable that there is a movement to prepare quickly and implement it immediately (3 months) after the law is passed.

It is the hope of horse racing enthusiasts that online sales of horse races (electronic betting tickets) should be implemented as soon as the bill is passed. ⓒHorse Industry Journal

In addition, if you take a closer look at the contents of the bill passed by the subcommittee through the minutes of the bill review subcommittee meeting on February 22nd, which was announced on the National Assembly's "Bill Information System" on February 27th, 2023, the contents of the bill passed by the subcommittee are as follows.

First, even if the bill for online horse racing sales is passed, it will be one year later if the government plans, so online sales can only be implemented after next year, which is the same as the previous explanation.

Second, a new basis was established for betting tickets and electronic betting tickets using information and communication networks, and in order to realize this electronic betting ticket, the current regulation that allowed betting tickets to be sold only within the racecourse was deleted. When revising the Racing Authority Act, which stipulates off-track sales outlets in the past enforcement ordinance, the addition of "sales within the racetrack" in response to off-track sales outlets was not intended to ban online sales, but the Ministry of Government Legislation used this phrase to assert that there was no basis for online sales. The shackles that prohibited online sales, enforced by the authoritative interpretation (2008), have been lifted.

Third, the place of tax payment and tax payment ratio, including leisure tax, for online sales sales is 50% to the local government of the online sales membership registration location (over-the-counter sales office) and 50% to the local government. According to the current standard, online sales are 100% paid to the location of the racecourse (main venue), which has been adjusted.

Fourth, the online sales limit for horse racing is expected to not exceed 10%. Motorcycle racing is significantly different from allowing up to 50% of online sales. If online sales exceed 10%, over-the-counter sales outlets will be phased out. This is an excessive restriction that is different from bicycle racing, Toto (sports promotion voting rights), and lotteries, which do not have such legal restrictions.

Fifth, horse racing online sales are restricted to those who are over the age of 21 (age 22 or older is allowed), face-to-face registration, ID verification, mobile phone real-name authentication, registration in the person's name and device (e.g. cell phone) in the person's name, and bank in the person's name. You must register an account and use biometric identification such as eyes or fingerprints.

Regarding fingerprint and eye biometric authentication methods, which raise concerns about criticism that they treat horse racing customers as if they were criminals, no lawmaker pointed out human rights violations, etc. This is in contrast to the condemnation of Koreans living in Japan who do not become naturalized even after living for decades, and who register as aliens with ten finger prints as soon as they are born.

Sixth, the upper limit for online purchases was set at 50,000 won. For about 15 races a day (including cross-voting), the price is about 750,000 won, but assuming that customers do not purchase all races, it is questionable whether it will compete with millions of won worth of purchases for illegal horse races without an upper limit.

Seventh, in cases where the total sales amount determined by the Racing Authority is exceeded due to online permission, etc., the racing association itself establishes a soundness plan, prepares an operation plan, and receives government approval. If an operation plan is not established or approval is not obtained upon resumption of electronic betting sales, the government can issue a corrective order and impose fines.

It is not yet known how the bill that passed the bill review subcommittee will be modified in the process of discussion at the overall agricultural, marine and water committee when the agricultural, marine and marine affairs committee chairman presents alternative legislation.

However, if the bill, which has been in the works for about three years, is passed this time and the four bills are "reflected and scrapped as alternatives" and submitted as a single bill, it is expected that there will be no major difficulties in passing the bill.