Pres. Henry opened the meeting by giving a warm welcome to PP Henry Fetigan from The Rotary Club of Vancouver Chinatown, our sister club in Canada. PP Henry was a former member of our club back in 1992. He was then invited by Pres. Henry to give us a brief talk. He told us when he left our club in 1994 he always has a warm spot in his heart for the years that he spent with us. He then went on to tell us about the sad reason why he left us and what happened to him since he left. He also told us about some of the other members of our club who have settled in or around Vancouver who were among others such as Rube, Harold, & Y.P. He invited us to visit his Club when we are ever in Vancouver.
Next Pres. Henry then invited the acting SAA Heron to make his report. He reported that the total collection for the day was $900.
PDG Uncle Peter then came up to the rostrum to make a presentation. He made the presentation of another Paul Harris Fellow, this time it was for Pres. Henry who received this medal on behalf of his wife May. Congratulations to Pres. Henry and his wife.
Uncle Peter then went on to inform all those new or multiple Paul Harris Fellows of this year that there will be a special presentation of a District Award given to these recipients at our District Conference to be held on Nov 15-16, 2003. So he encouraged all these recipients to be present at the District Conference.
Foot Ball Betting Then we came to the highlight of this meeting. Pres. Henry, a jack of all trades, introduced himself as the speaker of the day. He started his talk with the idea that no one really knows what he does but only that he worked for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. He in fact is the betting director of the Jockey Club. He joined the Jockey club in 1974 as a young recruits to form the team to implement the legal off course betting. At that time illegal betting was connected with triads and corruption was wide spread. Therefore the government decided to form ICAC to fight corruption and illegal gambling. In relation to this the government realizing the public demand for legalized betting also decided to offer the legal off course betting on horses.
In recent couple of years because of the wide spread TV coverage of football games, there appear to be a demand for betting on the outcome of the football games. Especially during the recent World Cup matches held in Japan & Korea, and the very little time difference between the territory and the actual location of the match, this created a big demand and interest in football games. He estimated that the volume of betting to be in region of $20-40 billion. In fact this estimate was conservative because it was done about two years ago. In a recent survey done by the Home Affairs Dept. of the government it was estimated that there are about 374,000 people have admitted to betting illegally on football. There are already a lot of people betting on football and they don't really worry that this is not permitted by law. These illegal bookmakers have already built up a customer base. They even offer their customer credit betting because these customers are known to the bookmakers. These bookmakers can offer better odds because they do not have to pay taxes to the government. And they can offer many more products to their customers almost anything they want. If you look at the Club, we are subject to governmental regulations. Whereas these illegal bookmakers are not subjected to the same regulations. They can offer all kinds of games in football, cricket, basketball, etc, you name it.
On top of this lost revenue for the government, our charity lost a lot of money because the Club donates a lot of money to charities. In short the Club cannot compete with the illegal gamblers because of the restriction as mention above. We need continuous help from law enforcement by the government to make it more difficult for these illegal gambling. Of course the public must back up the law against illegal gambling.
The way the government work out the Clubs profit is unique and the highest in the world. The Club pays the government 50% from the Club's gross earnings. This makes the Club's gross profit. But the club then deducts all overheads to arrive at a net profit. This compared to Singapore's 20 % and the UK's 12.5%.
Pres. Henry then concluded his talk by offering to let us know how they do it. He likes to think that the Club has the technologies, the infrastructure & the customer base. We also have the risk management expertise. We also are taking the correct step to fight habitual gambling and not encouraging over gambling and not allow gambling by those under age.
44th District Conference of District 3450 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre Hong Kong Tentative Programme Saturday 15th November 2003
12.30 p.m. Registration
2.00 p.m. Opening Ceremony and First Plenary Session
Guest of Honour - Professor Ng Ching Fai, President & Vice
Chancellor, Hong Kong Baptist University3.30 p.m. Second Plenary Session
Address by RI President's Personal Representative, PDG Jackson
Hsieh San-lien, District 3520District Report by D.G. Jones Wong
Introduction of future leader - DGE Alexander Mak
7.00 p.m. Governor's Banquet & Hepatitis B Immunization Project
Fundraising BallSunday 16th November 2003
7.45 a.m. Breakfast Meeting
9.00 a.m. Third Plenary Session
Speech by RI President's Personal Representative PDG Jackson
Hsieh San-lien, District 3520Business Session
10.45 a.m. Breakout Sessions
- Youth Services including presentations by Rotaract,
Interact, RYLA, GSE & Ambassadorial Scholar
- Hepatitis B Immunization Project
- Membership Drive - Mission or Burden ?
- Rotary's Centennial - What Next ?
12.30 p.m. Rotary Foundation Lunch
1.45 p.m. Fourth Plenary Session
Lend A Hand Presentations
(Family of Rotary, Literacy & Education, Poverty Alleviation &
Health Concerns)
4.00 p.m. Fifth Plenary SessionReports on Breakfast Session
On-to Osaka Convention by PP Winnie Yuen
Closing Remarks
5.15 p.m. Auld Lang Syne
PDG Peter Hall Golf Trophy Tuesday, 25th November, 2003 The Hong Kong Golf Club Fanling course to be announced Tee off time 8:30am or thereafter Opened to all golfers from The Rotary Club of Hong Kong Island East Signup Now with PP John Kwok (Mobile: 9550-3454) email : geeon@netvigator.com
Subject: Fw: Indecent proposal
A young girl missed her period for two months. Very worried, the mother goes to the drug store and buys a pregnancy kit.
The test result shows that the girl is pregnant.
Shouting, cursing, crying, the mother says, "Who was the pig that did this to you? I want to know!
The girl picks up the phone and makes a call. Half an hour later a Ferrari stops in front of their house; a mature and distinguished man with gray hair and impeccably dressed in a very expensive suit steps out of it and enters the house.
He sits in the living room with the father, the mother and the girl, and tells them:
"Good morning, your daughter has informed me of the problem.
However, I can't marry her because of my personal family situation, but I'll take charge.
If a girl is born I will bequeath her 2 retail stores, a townhouse, a beach villa and a $1,000,000 bank account.
If a boy is born, my legacy will be a couple of factories and a $2,000,000 bank account.
If it is twins, a factory and $1,000,000 each.
However, if there is a miscarriage, what do you suggest I do?"
At this point, the father, who had remained silent, places a hand firmly on the man's shoulder and tells him, "You'll make her pregnant again!"
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