China's top sports administration has approved the mainland's first horse racing lottery that is expected to start in September in Wuhan City, Hubei Province.

At this stage, the horse racing and bets on the races is only a trial, Miao Wei, Party Secretary of Wuhan, capital of Hubei, told the government-backed Cnhubei.com.

The business is expected to bring annual revenue of 100 billion yuan (US$13.78 billion) along with 40 billion yuan in tax revenue and more than three million jobs, the report said.

Horse racing has been forbidden on the Chinese mainland since 1949.

Betting on horse racing has been a part of life in Hong Kong for more than a century.

Last year, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, a 124-year-old institution running horse racing, paid HK$12.6 billion (US$1.6 billion) in betting taxes and donated HK$1.1 billion to its various charities, according to a report by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

(Shanghai Daily January 10, 2008)