Chief Stipe

Mmmm they've gone real quiet on it.

Does that mean they will dump the current broadcasting/production contract with NEP?

You never release a website for a major organisation not finished. Unbelievable. I wonder what it cost.

Has anyone had a look at the new look www.TABNZ.Org website https://tabnz.org/? It's terrible. What's more try and find the latest turnover and profit figures!! What a bloody joke.

Which reminds me....has the new $2m+ IT system for NZTR been useful for trainers? Is it actually in use?

So "tackling overseas competition head-on" may involve blocking it?

Their track record isn't that great however. They may or may not generate more revenue but at the end of the day will it be Sports or Racing that benefit? What you are also forgetting that the revenue still gets distributed to the same muppets that make all the stuffed up decisions now. So what changes? Just someone managing the revenue side of the business.

I can't help but think that everyone is drinking the Etain Koolaid. So reminiscent of past promises.

Eh?! In the same sentence they talk about geo-blocking?

I can't believe the number of people saying we had no option but to accept this shyte deal. I guess that says a lot about the competence of NZ Managers and Administrators.

The only way this deal will work is if they slash costs namely salaries, the Betting platform contact and the Btoadcasting platform contract. They may be able to negotiate savings on the betting platform by leveraging off their Ladbrokes contract. If costs are not reduced there won't be any increased stakes. Let alone any decent tracks to train and race on.

TABNZ and NZTR fucked over NZ Racing journalism. For a whole lot of reasons. It started when Fairfax sold Best Bets and Turf Digest to the TAB at way way over what they were worth. I knew a senior manager at Fairfax at the time that couldn't stop grinning for a long time. Not only did they get rid of low profit publications they had the opportunity to offload their racing journo's. Then Fairfax started charging for space for fields, results and articles to be published. Friday Flash morphs into The Informant to fill the gap. The TAB with a seemingly bottomless pit of money morph their recently purchased publications and start competing with the Informant. The Informant unfortunately gets as many of the Journalists it can on their books - many offloaded by Fairfax and then the TAB. The Informant suddenly has a very high cost structure up against a monopoly with a pit full of money and a ready made distribution network. The TAB in collusion with the codes makes it even harder for The Informant with exorbitant fees for race fields and form data. So expensive that it is cheaper for The Informant to purchase from an Australian news agency. I might be wrong but it was probably a Fairfax company. The Informant folds. The Journalists are left hanging with no income. Of course the usual wheeler and dealers find a life line e.g. Mick Guerin. Then McKenzie comes along. Fiddles with the balance sheet and pushes marketing costs out to the codes. Of course the code administration are clueless about promoting their sport and the punting that funds it. So where does the money come from to promote both objectives - money that goes to stakes. But wait it gets worse. Change of management at the TAB (McKenzie off to be a Professor in Arizona) who decide to rehire a marketing department. Now we have double the costs, no decent form publication or editorial and Mick Guerin the only Journalist writing in mainstream media.

Yep I got suckered ONCE. Never again.

I'm just pissed off. You do the analysis and scream from the rooftops and get dished up the same old same old. McKenzie had the chance and mandate to turn it around and delivered no more than those previously. Now the likes of @JJ Flash and his canine friend are waking up. Too late. When all they needed to do was put their vested self interest to one side and learn to read a set of accounts. Even the Mythical Cartel have been rogered.

We "were toast in tow years" because of poor management. This deal is no different to the rest of the previous deals. The industry has got what it deserves and nearly every single stakeholder has to take some blame. The 20% drop could have been clawed back by salary cuts and cutting out the two major contracts. Mackenzie could have done that when the TAB was insolvent.

Yep this all makes sense - the Nanny State Government will spend millions blocking people from accessing a market competitive product.

Here's how blocking New Zealanders from international gambling might work Tom Pullar-Strecker05:00, May 30 2023 KIRK HARGREAVES/STUFF The Government has been hedging its bets on how to block overseas gambling websites by consulting on a couple of different options, which are not mutually exclusive. Using technology to block people from visiting overseas gambling websites is unlikely to be effective, InternetNZ has warned. But the Government may have other options, which include making it harder for punters to deposit funds with overseas betting firms. Minister for Racing Kieran McAnulty announced last week that the Cabinet had reached an agreement “in principle” to prevent New Zealanders from placing bets with online bookies overseas. It made the decision at the same time as approving a controversial deal that will see British gambling giant Entain take on the job of providing the TAB’s betting and broadcasting services in return for a 50% share of the TAB’s gambling revenues. Entain has offered the carrot of an extra payment to the TAB if the Government chooses to entrench the TAB’s monopoly – and hence increase Entain’s income from the arrangement – by blocking gambling on rival overseas websites. McAnulty agreed when answering questions on the transaction last week that one option might be to use a technique called “geoblocking” to prevent Kiwi punters from visiting overseas gambling websites. That would likely involve placing a requirement on internet providers to disable access to those websites for their New Zealand customers. Government approves $900m TAB outsourcing deal Play Video 1 NEWS The TAB's partnership with Entain guarantees $900m in funding for the racing industry over the next five years. McAnulty said there weren’t many ways that the Government could re-establish a monopoly for the TAB, but geoblocking was “certainly one of those options we're going to be looking at”. As an additional or an alternative technique, the Government has also been consulting on the possibility of preventing credit card companies from processing payments to overseas – or all – gambling sites, or simply making it illegal for people to visit “unauthorised gambling sites”. InternetNZ chief executive Vivien Maidaborn said geoblocking was not effective as it was “easy to get around” and said it could lead to “unintended consequences”. The common way to circumvent geoblocking is to access the internet through a “virtual private network” (VPN), one feature of which is that it can disguise the user’s location. VPNs have a variety of other uses in business. “This is a technology that many New Zealanders have been using when working from home recently,” Maidaborn said. Government-mandated content-blocking risked undermining New Zealanders’ trust in both the internet and the Government, and if the Government was to consider it there would need to be very thorough community consultation, she said. “We don’t think that getting more money coming into the TAB warrants blocking parts of the internet. “Given the risks that comes with, we question why we would allow any form of blocking so the gambling industry can get more economic returns.” SUPPLIED InternetNZ chief executive Vivien Maidaborn says geoblocking overseas gambling sites would be ineffective. McAnulty has indicated other reasons why the Government might want to block overseas gambling would be to protect returns to the racing industry and to address its concerns that measures to limit problem-gambling might be weaker on overseas sites. The Australian Government announced in April that it would ban banks from allowing customers to use credit cards to deposit funds into gambling accounts, although that was more to stop people from gambling with “borrowed money”, rather than a measure specifically aimed at overseas operators. The New Zealand Banking Association submitted in 2019 that gambling providers and their customers could also circumvent that measure, for example by accepting and making deposits using other international payment services such as PayPal, WeChat and AliPay. “Additionally, a block on credit cards would rely on overseas gambling websites using the correct merchant code. There is a risk that websites would change the merchant code to get around the ban,” it said. SkyCity said last week that if the Government did seek to prevent people from placing bets on overseas gambling sites, it should at the same time also block access to unregulated, overseas online casinos. Chief executive Michael Ahearne said there were currently “hundreds of offshore gambling websites targeting Kiwi customers operating unchecked". “Kiwis who want to gamble online are often doing so with very little knowledge of who these companies are, and with very little protection if something goes wrong. “They’re not compelled to look out for problem gambling, they don’t give back to the community, and they don’t generate New Zealand jobs or pay New Zealand tax,” he said. SkyCity estimated that about $250 million was being gambling through such sites in 2019 and believed that may have since doubled, in part due to the stay-at-home effect of the Covid pandemic.Spokesperson Graeme Muir acknowledged that betting on online casinos was “not exactly James Bond”, but clarified SkyCity was not suggesting an outright ban on them. Nor was it offering to shut down its online casino, which is based in Malta and restricts access to New Zealanders, he said. Instead, it was proposing a block on online casinos – based either in New Zealand or overseas – that weren’t regulated under New Zealand law, he said.

Too late I'm afraid.

He's got a few things wrong but generally on the money. I can't believe that the industry administrators can't see through this BS deal.

NZ racing again its own worst enemy by Brian de Lore Published on 29 May 2023 The Entain deal is a fizzer for racing. That’s my view after learning the devilish detail of an agreement that’s more about the TAB’s survival and the Minister’s generosity with racing’s money than it is about arresting racing’s decline. Racing’s $150 million cake already had the icing removed before the codes turned up to collect it. By that time the cake had a value of $89.5 million and the Entain/TAB partnership had divided it into five slices, each for yearly distribution with the largest slice five years away. The deal is no game-changer for racing as Minister McAnulty claimed at the Karaka announcement on Tuesday. What it truly represents is a Government appeasement of a conglomerate of 38 sporting organisations who lobbied hard for a chunk of the icing, plus handouts to a Women Sports Initiative and gambling harm minimisation which comes in addition to the levy already applied. No one denies that all these organisations don’t deserve funding, but they are already funded to exist and this is racing’s money and represents a chance to secure its own future sustainability. Is the Government vote-buying here in an election year at racing’s expense? TAB intends retaining $40 million in reserve – Why? Does it make you curious that Entain offers $150 million upfront and then in partnership with TAB NZ takes $40 million back to hold in reserve to add to the $90 million of cash and equity on the books from last season’s annual report? All this money theoretically generated for racing. TAB NZ has fast become racing’s nemesis. The board is sport heavy, is Government controlled, seems weakly represented by racing, and displays no worthwhile concern for racing’s future. On Tuesday at the signing, McAnulty told me: “I have a lot of faith in the racing industry and the people that work within it, but the playing field hasn’t been level for a long time, and in a country our size that competes overseas, we need to have the structures right. “That’s why I’m such a big believer in re-establishing the monopoly for the TAB, one because it re-establishes the original intent of having a single wagering provider that then feeds back to sports and racing – racing predominantly and sports additionally. That has been eroded because of online overseas betting. “By closing that loophole and saying that if you want to back NZ racing you can bet solely through the TAB and this will secure it for the future – I think that’s massive and that’s why I have been leading that work, and that’s also why I have announced that in-principle decision today alongside the signing of the agreement,” he concluded. Marketed as a billion-dollar deal, but announced as $900 million over five years, the missing $100 million comes in as a contingency when/if the Government sees fit to geo-block Kiwi punters. Only $20 million to the codes in year one, less the year after… This is how the deal is structured: The upfront drip-fed $150 million eroded by $500,000 to the Women Sports Initiative, $15 million to 38 sporting entities, $5 million towards gambling harm minimisation, and $40 million for a reserve fund held by TAB NZ. Leaving $89.5 million distributed to the three codes over five years: 2023/24 $20m 2024/25 $15m 2025/26 $15m 2026/27 $15m 2027/28 $25m These miserable annual allocations became known via a radio interview with NZTR CEO Bruce Sharrock on Saturday. Out of the $20 million for next season, the thoroughbred code gets $11.5 million, a meagre pot of cash for stakes increases and badly overdue maintenance and infrastructure at various racecourses. Sharrock: Stakes not seen as a priority In an online article headed “Increase in stakes not seen as a priority” which appeared on the Herald website late last Thursday, a Sharrock quote stated: “We know we are getting more money for the next five years and, yes, some will go into stakes, but we also have to look at infrastructure like our tracks.” Racing’s woes intensified at last Tuesday’s announcement when the Minister also revealed the TAB would relinquish its Class 4 gaming licence and remove 500 poker machines from TAB outlets around the country. Last season the pokies brought in $23 million profit, allowing the sporting clubs of NZ to apply and be allocated grants totaling $6 to $7 million, but additionally, the codes will now be denied income of $15 to $16 million, out of which the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) gets its funding ($14.2 million in 2021/22 season). How the RIB will be funded in the future and when this takes effect is uncertain, but it would be logical to assume it will come out of normal code funding. Six years ago the RIU cost $5.8 million for the season, but in the Racing Act of 2020 the legislation changed the RIU to give it autonomy and it became a board, and afterwards the then Minister of Sport and Racing, Grant Robertson, appointed a bunch of non-racing retired policemen associates to run it, and costs have risen 145 percent. ‘Three groups spend other people’s money – children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision.’ It reminds me of an old saying: ‘Three groups spend other people’s money – children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision.’ It’s hard to fathom the logic for giving up the Class 4 licence and poker machine income unless it’s a move to appease a growing anti-greyhound/horse racing, anti-gambling lobby for vote-catching in an election year. On radio on Saturday, Minister McAnulty failed to justify the decision when he said: “Attached to the monopoly proposal (geo-blocking), but not part of the agreement, in exchange for expanding the monopoly from onshore to online I negotiated with the TAB and they agreed they would relinquish their class 4 gaming licence and stick just to wagering, and so that would be a 500 poker machine drop to our country’s total – there would not be machines in TAB outlets anymore, and that means the TAB can focus just on wagering as it was intended to do right from the start. “All I’m proposing we do is return to the initial intention of the TAB; that it’s the sole wagering operator in the country to the benefit of racing and sports.” It’s obvious from that remark the Minister knows nothing about the history of the TAB and its beginnings. The thoroughbred and harness racing clubs of New Zealand put up £50,000 and a proposal to the Government in 1950 to financially support the clubs – no mention of the ‘sole wagering operator’ or ‘sport’ which never contributed to the set-up costs or shared in the TAB running expenses. Barton prepared a 24-page report which quite clearly rules in favour of the clubs as having an irrefutable claim to the beneficial ownership of the TAB – Friday Flash 1995 He should also be reminded that in 1995, George Barton QC after a thorough investigation handed down a paper to the New Zealand Racing Conference saying the racing clubs of NZ had an irrefutable claim to the beneficial ownership of the TAB. Also remember this: The Government appointed John Allen and Glenda Hughes to run the TAB and the incompetence of that pair cost racing a fortune. Against industry wishes, they built a soon-to-be redundant fixed odds betting platform for $50 million with huge ongoing costs to accommodate sport – did either the Government or Sport compensate racing for this debacle? No, they didn’t, but as soon as a pot of cash turns up for racing, The Government steps in and wants to give to everyone else, and Sport is the first in line for a handout. Sport should get some money, but not racing’s cash over and above the fair arrangement that’s written into the Racing Act of 2020. The Government should fund sport independently, just as it gave $136 million to Auckland’s last Americas Cup. Racing contributes hundreds of times more to the NZ economy than the Amercas Cup ever will – 14,000 full-time employees and 45-50,000 participants and volunteers. CEO Mike Tod takes his bonus and runs This is a better deal for sport than racing. But why sign up for 25 years? What happens if this marriage of convenience for mutual profit needs a divorce after a 7-year itch? It won’t matter to the mercenary Mike Tod who already has lodged his divorce papers and is on the run with a big bonus. Kieran McAnulty’s radio interview revealed several debatable thoughts. Have a read of them below and then post your thoughts in the ‘Leave a Reply’ box at the bottom of the page. Minister of Racing Kieran McAnulty said: “Tuesday was a hugely proud day for me personally and the highlight of my career. “We are very fortunate position for a country of our size to be a world leader, but the industry is under threat, and the various aspects of it are under threat, not just in the domestic racing scene, not just our contribution to the Australian racing scene but also the $1.6 billion export industry that underpins the racing industry.“ (surely he meant $1.6 million) “The TAB is at the centre of that, and always has been, and always will be. If the TAB falls over, then so does our industry. “The deal will be game-changing for the New Zealand industry, but at the same time I wanted to give everyone in racing the Government’s commitment to secure racing’s future. We want people to have confidence to invest in horses, and we want sponsors to have confidence to invest in the racing industry. We are doing what we can to save it and keep it sustainable into the future. “You will note that it was an announcement of an in-principle decision. Cabinet has given me the go-ahead to look into how we can secure the TAB further into the future. Normally you wait for a decision before you announce it – everyone that’s got an interest in this will be able to have a say and input into it. “Let’s be clear about what this is; it’s a service agreement. It’s a 25-year arrangement. At the end of that the TAB still remains in New Zealand hands. What the agreement says to Entain is that we want you to give us a world-leading platform, your access to products, the odds that you offer, the competition with overseas operators that you provide a world-leading standard product that New Zealanders deserve, and our TAB is simply too small to provide. “In exchange for access to that Entain takes a cut of 50 percent moving forward. The projections are that given the amount of money the TAB is losing to overseas providers because the TAB can’t compete, the TAB will still make more money, and still going to distribute more money to New Zealand racing and sports than it would do if it was left like it was. The key thing is that we get more out of this than we are perceived to be giving away. “In terms of the Entain deal, the TAB will be restricted to wagering products only, they won’t be allowed to do online casinos and won’t be allowed to do online pokies. But there is the potential for Entain to allow what they call Novelty Betting – betting on elections or things that aren’t sport or racing. “I’m proposing that for novelty events, the same proportion is used, but the profit goes to gambling harm – it’s a progressive approach to expand the TAB product and in exchange for that we take harm minimisation seriously and fund it properly. “Attached to the monopoly proposal, but not part of the agreement, in exchange for expanding the monopoly from onshore to online I negotiated with the TAB and they agreed they would relinquish their class4 gaming licence and stick just to wagering, and so that would be a 500 poker machine drop to our country’s total – there would not be machines in TAB outlets anymore, and that means the TAB can focus just on wagering as it was intended to do right from the start. “All I’m proposing we do is return to the initial intention of the TAB; that it’s the sole wagering operator in the country to the benefit of racing and sports. “We have to think about the situation we were facing, that the TAB would have fallen over within three years and racing have had less and less money to distribute around the country, and this agreement changes that. Footnote: If novelty betting comes in, and it sounds as though it’s over the line, my advice to the Hon Minister of Racing, Kieran McAnulty, is to mortgage his house and have a decent bet on a National-Act coalition new government landslide result in October – go 13+.

Ardern was lying. Haven't you heard of the brightline test? There is effectively a capital gains on housing and rentals. Also if the investor was operating as a company they get pinged on any sale by paying tax on the difference between depreciation costs claimed and the sale price. Ardern in typical Labour Party envy politics was using misinformation to sell a false narrative for political gain.

Back to the Topic. The code administrators get their money too easily from a monopoly. Are seemingly not accountable for their decisions. When the easy money flows less they pay less to those providing the show and don't cut their own pay. I can see where Teaz is coming from albeit with colourful language. Let's face it the charges were more about closing someone down from criticising than the colour of his language. He would have still been nailed if he had said they were just incompetent instead of fucking incompetent wankers. Exactly how this Government works.

You think that is a good thing? Labour has borrowed an incredible amount of money and shovelled it out to pay for things that don't produce anything. Your solution is to borrow more (or tax more) to top up those who can't afford to pay rent. That's just makes the problem worse. Meanwhile where are the 100,000 new houses in 10 years? We should have 60,000 of them by now. Why don't we? Simply because the Governments own rules, politics and bureaucrats make it too down hard. Meanwhile let's effectively nationalise every motel block in Rotorua. Pay exorbitant rents for them and at the same time stuff up the tourist industry in the town. The only solution is for Government to get out of the housing industry and remove the impediments to more private investors supplying rentals.

So just because someone doesn't have as many investment rentals does that make homes more affordable? Nope. Does it reduce the supply? Yes it does so the tax changes have failed. The reason why there is a shortage of housing and what there is rises in cost is due to the interventions of this Government in the market. The alternative is that we rely on Government to build more affordable homes but they've proven that they are hopeless at it. What's more they are hopeless bad landlords.