Racing between the horses was nothing compared with the dash by gamblers to put on their bets when the Hong Kong Jockey Club provided clients with Customer Input Terminals (CIT) so that bets could be placed online. But in the gambling-crazy province, people would battle to grab the few available telephones in restaurants and club to place last-minute bets, leaving many disappointed and angry gamblers.
So the Jockey Club went to Option International, the Leuven, Belgium, providers of miniaturized data communications. In a $3.5m contract, Option will provide a snap-on GSM adapter that connects the CIT to a mobile phone. Now bets can be placed anywhere and around 40,000 of the devices are expected to be shipped during the next racing season.
