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Just watched “The Guerin Report”. the CEO of Entain here and Australia, Andrew Vouros was interviewed by Michael Guerin. Was a wee bit interesting and appeared to be some not so convincing answers given. Guerin asked Andrew Vouros whether at the end of the 5 years Entain would pull the plug on racing? To be fair he was hardly going to say yes we will be pulling the plug, but you can take it that they will certainly not be as generous as they currently are. He was pretty airy fairy with his answer and think we know what is going to happen? Mr Vouros also stated that they were in the business of selling more and more bets to increase turnover! Well I can tell you that that is an untruth and he knows it, but probably the same worldwide. They could be increasing turnover significantly however  they are restricting turnover massively by several means, ridiculous restrictions on punters and stopping punters from being able to bet at all on some options!!!!! Interesting somehow that Mr Vouros knew what per centage of punters had their first ever bet on a horse race on the Melbourne Cup this year lol 😂  How????? They couldve  been betting every year with cash at a TAB rather than TAB account. At the end of the day it is their business that NZ sold out to, and hopefully racing thrives due to their actions, but do we believe it is going to?      

Agree with every one of your statements. Entain entered into the contract with no interest with improving racing, the money they were to put into racing was just the bribe that made the TAB think they were the White Knights! They were after Sports Betting and online gambling and the racing was effectively the liability they were prepared to wear for a few years. Yes HRNZ decision making to make harness racing sustainable has been very poor and they have not had the successful business people that They needed. It is very hard to fathom why many of these decisions have been made but they just seem to pluck them out of the air and are not held to account. what I do know is that they are definitely shortening the life of harness racing being viable for many in the industry despite what they say about everything going well!   

Retail growth he talks about be the punters they’ve restricted going betting on machines cos they can’t get bet on their accounts.

Are you understanding the full business model Brodie? My estimate is that roughly half a billion $ has been pissed against the wall since the new Racing Act was introduced in 2003. Poor changes at the TAB , poor employment choices  at both the TAB and code level and some super dumb deployments of projects, both at the TAB and code levels. Entain has another 22 years or so to go. There’s a contract in place and they will milk as much as they can until their contract ends/or they on-sell. From your own perspective Brodie, Entain will always have restricted punters. You’re successful and at least 20 others that I know are also restricted.  It’s bs really - the limit should be on the bet size not the bet prize. As for HRNZ -  their part in this jigsaw doesn’t have a casting vote as they’re perfunctory only, in any Entain decision. So whether some meetings or venues do better than others,that’s their decision. On the bright side….we ain’t in China so at least we can at least have a bet!    

Incorrect. Entain is a listed multinational whose priorities are and always will be margin, profit, and shareholder return. Racing is actually the least profitable product they operate. Because it isn’t delivering the returns they expected, they’re now doing what every global wagering giant does, cutting costs, trimming fat, and making the product cheaper to run. This is why you’ll see a major push in the next twelve months toward centralising tracks, reducing dates, reducing staff, and stripping racing back to the bare minimum. It’s not because they “love the sport” it’s because consolidation lowers overheads. Entains long term aim is simple. Shift their focus to high margin products sports betting and, soon enough, online casino games and let racing shrink into a small supporting act. It will be smaller, cheaper, and far less important to their bottom line. Whether racing thrives or dies isn’t a concern for them. Right now it’s an expensive, low margin pimple on a global balance sheet, and they’ll keep pruning until it stops hurting the numbers.

Mr Vouris,  as one would expect six months into his tenure, is upbeat and he had figures to defend his positive attitude. He has a background in gambling and  comes across as being focused on selling bets to customers who want to be involved with an innovative operator.  He is clear that growing the sports market and then getting new sports customers to get involved in major horse racing days such as Melbourne cup day etc is the key to achieving their growth goals. His gripe with NZ racing is the lack of consistency. He points out abandonments in the last 12 months are up ten percent. At  no point did he criticize any one or any entity however read between the lines when Michael Guerin asks him "If you had a magic wand?' to which he replies; "Racing to be on our best tracks, at the right times, with the best fields we can possibly put together".  

The Longines Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) lead-up meeting is in the bag and after the mouthwatering events of Sunday, we’re faced with the very real prospect that all four of December 14’s Group Ones could feature the defending champion. We know for certain that, all being equal, we will see at least two local superstars defending their respective crowns after Ka Ying Rising carried on his merry way with a commanding success in the Group Two Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) and Romantic...View the full article

I heard they are ending the rebates for big punters next year. No surprise to me they are always biting the hand that feeds them. 

Gamma, I have no party affiliations as such, but would never ever vote for the lefty, socislists/ communists as that would be the ruination of NZ. Liebour, TPM and the Greens are delusional and could never make anything successful! Personally do not believe that those in charge have had much business success from their efforts, however more than happy to be proven wrong? Gamma, of course my turnover on harness racing is down, solely due to the efforts of the Bookmakers at the TAB! Not going to tell on BOAY but if you knew half of it you would be more understanding of Brodie’s point of view. At the end of the day if Entain is this great company that cares about racing in NZ and we have successful business people making the decisions for HRNZ then we have nothing to worry about! Gamma, what are your thoughts about the mass DCM’s that are coming from Entain with many more to come so they can cut costs?   Would you be confident that they will be keen to prop up NZ racing when the 5 years is up?