Sejong City Faces 'Community Opposition' Over Consideration of Hosting Virtual Horse Racing Track

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Sejong City is facing public backlash after unveiling a plan to attract a horse racing betting facility (hereinafter referred to as a Hwaseong Horse Racing Center).

According to the city on the 7th, the attraction of the Hwaseong Horse Racing Center was first discussed at the ‘Citizen Sovereignty Council Agriculture and Livestock Subcommittee Meeting’ held on the 23rd of last month. At this meeting, the Hwaseong Horse Racing Center emerged as a desperate measure to overcome the recently deteriorated financial situation.

Previously, Sejong was designated as both a Speculative Overheated District and a Speculative Area during the government’s August 2, 2017 real estate measures announcement, which led to a real estate transaction freeze. The problem was that the decrease in acquisition tax caused by the real estate transaction freeze significantly reduced the city’s tax revenue.

For example, in the third quarter of 2017, the number of apartment transactions in Sejong was 1,176, but by the third quarter of 2018, just one year after the speculative area designation, it dropped to 355. Correspondingly, acquisition tax decreased from 331.8 billion KRW in 2017 to 294.6 billion KRW the following year, and the city expects the situation will not improve much this year either.

Considering the characteristics of the new city (Sejong), where acquisition tax accounts for a large portion of local tax revenue, the decrease in acquisition tax directly translates into a financial burden for the city. For the same reason, the city officially requested the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last year to remove Sejong from the speculative area designation, but this was not accepted.

The consideration of attracting a Hwaseong Horse Racing Center is not unrelated to this situation. If the Hwaseong Horse Racing Center operates locally, the city is attracted by the prospect of annual tax revenue of around 20 billion KRW (calculated based on the Daejeon Hwaseong Horse Racing Center) and the creation of about 200 jobs.

In this regard, the city is also reported to have planned projects such as establishing a park-type Hwaseong Horse Racing Center including recreational facilities on the outskirts of the city. The aim is to minimize the negative perception of the Hwaseong Horse Racing Center as a gambling facility within the local community.

However, the local community’s response to the city’s move has been cold. The Justice Party Sejong City Branch recently stated in a commentary, “Sejong City, which should present a future vision as a child-friendly city, is fundamentally wrong in the idea of using revenue gained from attracting a gambling facility for citizen benefits.” They warned, “If the city continues to push for the attraction of the Hwaseong Horse Racing Center under the pretext of covering the financial deficit, it will face political resistance such as a campaign to remove the mayor.”

Opposition from local civic groups is also strong. On the 6th, 19 organizations including the Sejong Apartment Residents’ Representatives Association and the Sejong Civic Society Solidarity held a joint press conference in front of City Hall, strongly condemning the city’s consideration of attracting the Hwaseong Horse Racing Center.

These groups raised their voices, saying, “The city’s idea that establishing a Hwaseong Horse Racing Center along with recreational and cultural facilities on the outskirts of the city could be used as a leisure space for citizens is absurd.” They added, “(Local civic groups) will form a broad citizen countermeasure organization involving resident autonomy organizations and community groups to block the city’s attraction of the Hwaseong Horse Racing Center.”

Regarding this, a city official said, “It is true that a proposal to attract a Hwaseong Horse Racing Center was submitted during an internal policy idea contest for public officials and discussed at the Citizen Sovereignty Council,” but emphasized, “However, the city has not made any decisions or is not currently proceeding with any plans to attract a Hwaseong Horse Racing Center at this point.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.