CANTON : They’re (Kinda) Off!
South China authorities, artfully denying that they are breaking their longstanding ban on gambling, will open Canton’s first horse racetrack on the site of an old airstrip on Sunday. City officials in Canton and nearby Shenzhen, which in February held China’s first horse race in 43 years, billed the government-run events “money-raisers for socialist construction.”
Canton officials, saying they do not encourage gambling, added that total “stimulation” for bettors could reach $45,000. They will be “stimulated” by entries with names such as “Treasured Luck and Wealth” and “Congratulations and Be Prosperous.”
Communist authorities banned horse racing when they took control of the mainland in 1949.
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