Sticking to stereotype

There is a standard stereotype that follows on from Irish people being big drinkers, Scots being mean and Scandinavians being enthusiastic nudists; it is that Chinese people are big gamblers.

This week it was reported that a Hong Kong court jailed a former apprentice jockey and charged two others over a lucrative race-fixing scam after rounding up 13 people. It is believed that one million Hong Kong dollars (US $129,200) was paid to fix a number of the races in March and April 1996.

Among those detained reportedly included is television host and former apprentice Sherie Kong Pik-wai, who is married to Hong Kong-based French rider Eric Legrix.

The inquiry followed a separate investigation last year which resulted in the prosecution of six people for bribing jockeys to fix races and for bookmaking offences. But the statistic which supports the labelling of the Chinese as big gamblers is that more than a million of the city's 6.4 million inhabitants are considered regular gamblers - making for quite a fertile gaming industry.