Asia’s race betting monopolies have launched a fresh push to convince law enforcement agencies to shield their comfy betting fiefdoms against interlopers.

On Friday, the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) announced that it had inked a memorandum of understanding with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) to combat international betting operators who dare to compete with the racing monopolies in ARF member nations.

The ARF, whose 21 members include the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), also announced the launch of its Anti-Illegal Betting Task Force (AIBTF), something the ARF has been pushing for since HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges proposed its formation at the 36th Asian Racing Conference in January 2016.

Tellingly, the HKJCs head of security Martin Purbrick has been appointed chair of the AIBTF, which plans to share information between members and with governments and law enforcement agencies to uphold “the integrity of the sport.” And hey, if this helps uphold the integrity of the HKJC’s bottom line, all the better.