Macau | Canidrome head denies report that greyhounds are being sent to Hainan

Macau (MNA) – Legislator and owner of the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome, Angela Leong On Kei, denied a report published this Thursday by local newspaper Tribuna de Macau that the Canidrome was considering sending greyhounds to the island of Hainan.

Speaking to media on the sidelines of the meeting of the 3rd standing committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Ms. Leong said the Hainan Government had not approved of greyhound racing, reiterating that no greyhounds were being transported to the southwest Chinese Province.

Tribuna reported that the greyhounds were being exported within the scope of a tourism project within Hainan.

The Chinese government has previously shown signs in favour of developing the gaming industry in Hainan – mainly through non-casino forms of betting – but there was never any mention of dog races being a part of such programme, although horse racing is allowed.

The Civic and Municipal Bureau (IACM) had reportedly confirmed to the local publication that the intention to export the dogs is being analysed, but when contacted by Macau News Agency (MNA), they did not clarify if this intention was part of the plan, adding they needed more time to check the details.

Leong further confirmed to media that she had applied to potentially move the dogs to the Macau Jockey Club – which she also owns – in a plan submitted on July 10 to the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ).

She added that the application to use the Macau Jockey Club was devised as a back-up plan as the club has more space, claiming such discussions had been taking place since 2016.

The businesswoman noted further that the extension of 120 days her company had also requested to the DICJ was only to re-house the dogs, justifying the period as the time needed to comply with government requirements for adoption.

The DICJ has announced earlier today that it had rejected the extension request, which would allow the company to remain in the Canidrome facilities after July 20.