The only gambling legally allowed in Hong Kong is on horseracing, and the Happy Valley Racecourse is the traditional centre of this multi-million-dollar business.

It’s controlled by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, one of the colony’s power bastions since its foundation in 1884, with a board of stewards made up of the leading lights of Hong Kong big business. A percentage of the profits go to social and charitable causes and such is the passion for betting in Hong Kong that the racing season pulls in over $80 billion per year.

The season runs from September to mid-June and there are usually meetings every Wednesday night, an intense experience given the crowds packed into the high stands surrounding the tight track. Entrance to the public enclosure is $10; there you can mix with a beery expat crowd, watch the horses being paraded before each race, and pump the staff to make sense of the intricate accumulator bets that Hong Kong bookies specialize in. Other options include joining the hard-bitten Chinese punters up in the stands, mostly watching the action on television ($20, plus all the cigarette smoke you can handle), or signing up for the Hong Kong Tourist Board’s Come Horseracing Tour ($540-790 depending on the event), which will take you to the course, feed you before the races, get you into the members’ enclosure and hand out some racing tips: you need to be over 18 and have been in Hong Kong for less than three weeks - take your passport to any HKTB office at least a day before the race.

On the second floor of the main building at the racecourse, the Hong Kong Racing Museum (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; free) presents various aspects of Hong Kong’s racing history, from the early days in Happy Valley through the construction of the New Territories’ track at Sha Tin to the charitable projects funded by the Jockey Club. Racing buff s can also study champion racehorse characteristics and famous jockeys in the museum’s eight galleries and cinema.