区块链赋能赛马业

Blockchain Empowers the Horse Racing Industry

香港国际新经济研究院高级研究员付饶

Senior Research Fellow of Hong Kong New Economics International Institute Tony

日前发布的《粤港澳大湾区发展规划纲要》中提到： “共同推进大湾区体育事业和体育产业发展，联合打造一批国际性、区域性品牌赛事。推进马匹运动及相关产业发展，加强香港与内地在马匹、饲草饲料、兽药、生物製品等进出境检验检疫和通关等方面的合作。”

The recently issuedDevelopment Plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area mentioned:“ we should make joint efforts to boost the development of the sports cause and sports industry of the Greater Bay Area, and jointly hold a series of international and regional brand sports events. We should advance the development of the horse racing and other related industries, and improve the cooperation between Hong Kong and the Mainland China on border crossing inspection and quarantine and customs clearance, including horses, forage, veterinary medicine and biopharmacy.”

赛马及马彩

Horse racing and horse lottery

由于赛马业在中国内地并不普及，大多数内地人对于赛马的认知不足，潜意识里总是将赛马和博彩联系起来。其实赛马本身作为体育娱乐项目，所具有的观赏性、刺激性等，同样是其吸引爱好群体的特点。而作为核心的赛事基础完备后，马匹买卖、版权收入、门票收入、赞助收入等等，都是可观和惊人的，同时也可带动全产业链以及当地的经济发展。

Since the horse racing is not popular in the Mainland China,most Mainlanders are short of knowledge on horse racing, and they always subconsciously connect the horse racing with the horse lottery. In fact, the horse racing, as a sport entertainment itself, its enjoyability and excitement are also the traits that can attract audiences. After the most important racinginfrastructure is established, the incomes from the horse transaction, copyright, ticket and sponsorship fee will be handsome and marvelous and it will put in motion the whole industry chain and benefit the local economy.

马术运动项目繁多，一般而言，可分为三大类：第一是世界各地个民族的传统比赛项目，第二是被国际马联承认的正式比赛项目，第三是列入奥运会正式比赛的盛装舞步、场地障碍和三项赛。

The equestrian consists of various competition events, but generally speaking, they all fall into three major categories: first is the tradition competition events of peoples from different countries, second is the formal competition events recognized by theFederation Equestre Internationale (FEI), and third is the formal Olympic competition events,dressage, show jumping and cross country.

除了马术，在香港脍炙人口的马匹运动要数赛马这一博彩事业。香港赛马历史悠久，赛马运动于19世纪40年代由欧洲引入香港，100多年来蓬勃发展，长盛不衰，成为声势浩大、影响深远、参加人数众多、投注金额最大、盈利最巨的博彩业。

Besides the equestrian, the prevailing horse sport in Hong Kong should be horse racing, which is also a lottery industry.Hong Kong has long enjoyed the horse racing sport and since it was introduced into Hong Kong from Europe in 1940s, for more than a century,it has thrived and perpetuated itself, now becoming the most profitablelottery industry witha great power and far-reaching influence, considerable participants and the largest bet.

香港的世界级赛马获国际肯定，赛驹经常跻身世界马匹年终排名的前列位置，每年亦有12场国际一级赛事在香港举行。香港有两个赛马场，一是沙田马场，一是香港岛的跑马地赛马场。另有屯门公众骑术学校、薄扶林公众骑术学校、鲤鱼门公众骑术学校三间公众骑术学校，均为英国马术协会的认可机构。

The world-class horse racing events held by Hong Kong received the international recognization, and the horses often top the list of the world’s yearly best horses. Every year, 12 international first-rated events will be held in Hong Kong.Two race courses are located in Hong Kong.One is the Sha Tin Racecourse, and the otheris the Happy Valley Horse Track in Hone Kong Island. In addition, there are three public riding schools in Hong Kong, the Tuen Mun Public Riding School, Pok fu lam Public Riding Schooland Lei Yue MunPublic Riding School, which are all recognized by the British Horse Society.

区块链赋能

Blockchain empowerment

英美等国的经验显示，马术产业发展至成熟阶段可为国家带来约佔GDP 2%至3%的效益。全国政协委员周永健曾联同李家祥、梁高美懿和杨绍信撰写提桉，可借助香港的相关经验为国家作出贡献，构建粤港澳大湾区马术产业链。

Experience from the Western world indicates that the mature equestrian industry will contribute 2% to 3% of GDPto the country. Zhou Yongjian, member of the CPPCC national committee, along with Li Jiaxiang, Margaret Leung and Yang Shao, made a proposal in a letter that Hong Kong’s experience should be used tobuild the equestrian industry chain in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which will also be a contribution to the country.

区块链技术在此过程中也大有可为：首先，在马匹登记和贸易方面，可以借助区块链的不可篡改性和智能合约的特性，将马匹竞技结果、伤病、饲料、药品、繁育、马主、骑手、佩戴护具等等信息的上链，实现马匹全周期的信息管理。

The blockchain can make a difference in this process: first of all, in respect of the horse registration and trade,the tamper-resistance and smart contract features of the blockchain can be used to upload the information, such as the racing result, injury and disease, forage, medicine, breeding, the horse owner, the rider and protective equipment, to the blockchain, so that thecyclical information management over the horses can be realized.

其次，在马匹跨境流动方面，可以与国家农业部、国家质检总局等监管机构建立联系，通过区块链技术记录马匹的疫病信息，实现马匹、饲料、药品跨境流动的便利化，为建设“无疫区”贡献力量。

Secondly, for the border crossing of the horse, relationship can be built with monitoring bodies including the National Agricultural Department and the National Bureau of Quality Inspection. By using the blockchain technology, we can record the animal disease information and facilitate the cross-border mobilization of the horse, feed and medicine, contributing to building the“non-disease area”.

第三，在退役赛驹再培训及安度余年方面，退役赛驹秉承传宗接代的使命，在十分讲求血统的赛马业，一匹优秀的种马会追溯血统到祖父辈。这正吻合了区块链溯源的特性。此外，一些退役赛驹接受再培训，成为马术用马匹，开展难得的第二事业生涯。其马术表现也值得用区块链技术记录信息，赋予独一无二的生命代码。

Thirdly,in respect of the retraining and old-age life of retired racing horses, retired racing horses are entrusted the mission of continuing the clan. The horse racing industry attaches great importance to the blood lineage and a quality stud will be traced back to its grandfather generation, which coincides to the traceability feature of the blockchain. What’s more, after the retraining program, some horses can be used for equestrian and therefore started theirscarce second career. Their equestrian performance is also worth being recorded by the blockchain technology and becomes their unique life code.

据悉，全球47个国家或地区每年举行17万场赛马赛事，共有160万雇员在赛马业工作，年投注总额超过1190亿美元，年发放奖金约35亿美元，可见赛马业行业规模与数字货币业相若。中国的赛马业方兴未艾，2015年香港赛马会和中国马术协会及中国马业协会分别签订了谅解合作备忘录，内地繁育的优质马匹有望出口到海外，希望区块链也能为赛马业带动新的产业发展。

According to the report, there are 170,000 horse racing events held in 47 countries or regions yearly around the world. A total of 1.6 million employees are working in the horse racing industry. The total annual bet is more than $119 billion, and the bonus given out annuallyis about $3.5 billion. This indicates that the horse racing industry is about the same size with the cryptocurrency industry. China's horse racing industry is in the ascendant. In 2015, the Hong Kong Jockey Club hassigned a memorandum of understanding on cooperation respectively with the Chinese Equestrian Association (CEA) and the China Horse Industry Association (CHIA), by whichthe high-quality horse breeds from the Mainland are expected to be exported overseas. It is hoped that the blockchain will also drive the horse racing industry forward.