QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES -- A unit of the Philippine broadcasting company, GMA Network Inc., has announced a partnership with the Manila Jockey Club (MJC) that will allow local horseracing aficionados to bet on MJC-sanctioned racing events via the internet and through mobile phones.
GMA New Media, Inc., stated in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, that it is the technology partner of MJC in the endeavor that will become available mid-2011.
According to GMA New Media President and Chief Operating Officer Judd Gallares:
"GMA Network's subsidiary and Asia's oldest horse-racing club will invest P10 million (US$ 230,097) each into the new venture. People can begin betting via new platforms starting the middle of they year."
For its part, MJC's EVP and Chief Operating Officer Alfonso Victorio Reyno III said in the same statement that partnering with the media solutions company backed by the broadcasting giant would help it "upgrade the leisure it provides to people." He added that the joint venture would help boost expansion for MJC and the horseracing industry in general.
Both companies stated that the joint venture would be a private domestic corporation that would dabble in promoting technology and related services for sports and recreation via the use of various media including TV, radio, mobile, the internet, and other foreseeable platforms.
MJC traced its roots to the Spanish times with horse races held in 1867 and incorporated in 1937. It used to operate a track in San Lazaro in downtown Manila but has since moved its races to a new, 77-hectare horseracing facility in the province of Cavite, south of Metro Manila. It also operates a network of off-track betting stations in Metro Manila and in several provinces.
Source: BusinessWorld, February 8, 2011, page S1/7
Posted: March 1, 2011
