westbrew

Ok so here is the million dollar question, The rail for Friday’s meeting had been moved out six metres, a decision made based on advice from track specialists engaged during the 19-month renovation process and grow in process. Following a meeting yesterday between the Club, NZTR, Racing Integrity Board (RIB) representatives, and track specialists Liam O’Keeffe and Callum Brown, an immediate plan of action has been put in place to address the compaction issues. Are Liam O'Keeffe and Callum Brown the track specialists engaged for the renovation process??? If so they are the same ones who advised the track was good to go with the rail out 6m, and now they are providing another plan of action really???? We are grateful for the advice from the experts as we continue to refine the preparation processes for this new track surface, which differs considerably from the previous Awapuni track,” Taylor said. Come on so this is the first track of its type in NZ really???? they need to refine the preparation process for this new surface so what are the track experts, experts in if they are refining the process as they go really??? Read between the lines RACE revenue was way down with no racing on their track, ANZAC day is usually a reasonable day for them, so they thought they would kick off racing before the track had compacted properly, the trials held on April 8 with 13mm of rain caused significant damage to the renovated track leading to the decision to put the rail at 6 metres.” THE TRIALS CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO THE RENOVATED TRACK with 13mm of rain. I have been around the corporate world long enough to know this release is corporate spin of the worst kind, just own up RACE, NZTR and RIB you all decided to have a crack at racing before the track was fully ready.

Also on that, why is this Government hell bent on removing the Betting Exchange Bet Fair, via this monopoly legislation. So we have a right wing government who thinks competition is a bad thing???? Or is it just they like having their photos taken at the races with all the multi millionaires, but us poor old buggers who work 40 hours a week and just want to have a bet on a Saturday we are going to have to put up with shit service and shit prices.

And on what planet do we think giving TAB/Entain a total monopoly will improve anything.

The Big picture is that a number of years the "Industry" has been consolidating assets, with clubs merging and or closing and now NZTR coming for clubs which still have assets to provide relief for Clubs NZTR deem to be worthy. This tells me one thing the "Industry" is living beyond its means, they have been paying out dividends (stakes), without having worked out how much they require to maintain and refurbish their tracks. Thus the necessary work and money required to get their infrastructure back to decent standard is growing all the time. Once again i believe this is a critical failure of the NZTR Board and the members council. So how do you fix a problem that the Governance area of your "Industry" is effectively playing lip service to??? If you own a factory you work out what it costs to run and what it costs to upkeep and what it costs to replace in the long term and then you pay your dividends out with the money left over, these so called directors at NZTR do it the opposite way, they work out what dividend (stakes) they want to pay and then tell the clubs that's what's left for you to maintain the infrastructure for the "Industry". Thus we now have the situation where the funder of the infrastructure payments NZTR is blaming the clubs because they have not spent the money on upkeep that NZTR never gave them. And guess what NZTR answer is, shut down racing and or training in large geographical areas of NZ. So if we are having a witch hunt my vote is for NZTR Board and members council not the poor buggers at the coal face who have been totally underfunded for 20 plus years.

There is an old saying, If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. The right thing for these people to do is to resign and allow people who are part of the solution to replace them. I am sick of the press releases that come out time after time after time, track infrastructure is the biggest problem the industry faces and what is the NZTR Board response, hire a CEO from Sky City with no background or even professional knowledge of anything to do with Racing Infrastructure. I don't blame the new CEO he has only been here 5 mins but the Board and by extension the members council need to take a darn good look at themselves in the mirror.

So was the reason that NZTR gave them an award, so they could say how great they are and we don't need Levin because we have this wonderful club in Masterton, hence it adds to their narrative to shut Levin, this is typical corporate bullshit tricks that i am sure the New CEO is more than happy to employ.

If this is true that they are trying to sell Levin it is a disgrace. For sometime now i have been concerned that Winston Peters is a wolf in sheep's clothing, he plays up he is all for the little guy and he is racings best friend when in fact his party has been funded by certain very wealthy racing people who have no concern for the rank and file they are just rich breeders who wish to get richer by inflating stakes anyway they can including selling up community based race clubs so they can sell their yearlings for ever increasing profit. This Minister is a complete sham, closing Greyhounds, increasing Entains monopoly to include online, allowing NZTR to strip community clubs, letting the RIB costs get out of control ( I believe they have 3 large offices now ChCh, Wellington and Auckland, plus highly paid corporate roles being created left right and centre. All of these things are hurting the rank and file. Millions and Millions are being pissed away by mediocre management across the racing industry, they will continue to come for community assets as they are able to shit all over the little guy and continually paint it like its all the little guys fault.

So the deadline for Tenders has passed, Lets see how long it takes for an announcement to be made on the successful tender and the amount, could be make or break for Harness racing in the North.

Lets have an award for NZ Racing Industry, Piss away Money Board of the year, the finalists can be determined by the following, How many desk based jobs, How many Millions diverted from front line to administration How qualified the present CEO is when it comes to NZ Racing. To qualify each finalist must have made at least 5 serious blunders during the last 12 months. The Finalists are..... NZTR HRNZ GRNZ RIB. Votes please.

When they put in the Synthetic hydroponic track, the idea was to be able to race in the wetter months in Auckland, while i have question marks around this track, its ability to handle large amounts of rain in days preceding race day is not in doubt in my mind,100mm plus a couple of days before race day would not be an issue, the problem is more around rain on race day when it has been fine leading up to race day, and they have alleviated this by the use of machinery.

Read the TAB accounts chief Racing got 225m sport got 26m so you are telling me that the TAB generated 225m from racing and 26m from sports, even blind freddy can join the dots on that one. And yes the point is the legislation does allow for what is happening as per the above distribution, but laws can and are regularly changed, and as i stated earlier more and more sports globally are generating cash from betting on their sport, and i will once again bow to your superior knowledge on the subject, but to me the split looks a bit like racing is taking some of sports cake, and maybe some sports administrators may begin to think the same.

So there is basically an advert in the weekend herald, trying to hock the land at Pukekohe. So that indicates that there is no buyer and the club is racking up somewhere between 500 and 600k a month in interest which is being added to the debt, and generally these types of deals have pretty long settlements if a buyer is found 6 to 12 months.

Hang on chief, i know what has been pointed out but to clarify what you are presenting as the money flows from TAB activity, are you are saying that the profit that the TAB generates at the end of its financial year and then passes on to racing is all made from betting on racing???? As the sports have all been paid their profit. I am talking about the dividend paid at the end of the year. The TAB as you say is a state owned body but it does not pay a dividend to the Government it pays it to racing . And if i read what you are saying rite you are saying that this amount of profit at then end of the year is just profit from racing as sports have already been paid all of the profit generated on their individual sport??? What I am saying is yes the national sports organisations are getting a share but only a share not all of the profit made on their individual sport. The balance of the profit made on these sports is part of the profit of the TAB which is then paid to racing. The question is why is racing getting it???

Kit i am 100% with the submission you have put up, however the racing industry has very close ties to the Government, and they are still glowing with the 200m that Entain threw at them and add in the other 100m they are promised over this geo block shit and the punter has no show here in NZ. Like it or not NZTR and the big breeders don't give a toss about punters, and they are driving this legislation on behalf of Entain.

Thanks Curious, so given that NZ Racing has no claim on the tote, and in reality were just the first ones to use it, they clearly have no right to any income generated by the NZ TAB outside of that generated on the sport of horse racing, so time for the Government to amend the legislation so that each sport receives its share of the 50% profit that entain does not take.

Curious I was trying to be diplomatic, as i am aware that for many years in certain circles there has been an argument as to who owns the TAB, the government or the racing clubs, i think even Rodger Douglas was looking to sell it but backed off as he could not get clarity over the ownership position, thus in fairness to racing i have always believed that the clubs who started the Tote in the early 1900s still own the IP which is based within the Jetbet system, As to the ownership of the rest of the Entain run TAB i think it is fair to say that Racing can have no claim on that.....hope that answers your question.

Well i will bow to your superior knowledge around the systems used to share data between tab/casinos and the DIA, it seems like everything is all good here in NZ, as you say the only way to circumvent it would be to manipulate the data, and it is highly unlikely that any organisation would try and get one over the New Zealand department of internal affairs.

That is the point chief, Racing is getting the profit ie the unallocated money??? Now that is apparently happening because they owned a thing called the totalisator in the early 1900s, that was then computerised and racing was given all the income generated by the Totalisator agency board to shut out the bookies. Now that has continued since the TAB was set up in the early 50s. Racing no doubt still own the Tote they invented it and still own it, but as far as fixed odds wagering on sport, that isn't owned by TAB, so the reason racing is getting the profit from sports betting is just because they always have. Now with the 50/50 Entain deal in play if a foreign bookmaker can get 50% of the profit what is to stop each sport including racing just getting its own share of the other 50%????

Chief i very much doubt there is data exchange between regulators and tab in NZ. There maybe occasional audits, but there is no way that FMA RBNZ or DIA are getting any data from Entain. When you read risk based approach, that is code for do what you want we are asleep at the wheel over here. Entain may send STRs to the police and are required to answer any incoming requests from IRD or Police, but there is no effective way for a regulator to monitor weather in fact Entain are doing the due diligence required of them outside of an audit, thus you are relying on the culture of the organisation, and the TAB has gone from a state controlled entity, to a branch of a Corporate bookmaker based in Australia so is the culture of compliance the same?????

Other Kennels should have plenty of time, there is a working group in Wellington according to Peters who are due to report back to the minister next month, so four months after the ban the Wellington crowd are still having meeting after meeting after meeting, so there is a window of opportunity to get their operations relocated across the Tasman.

I totally agree Wingman, the medium term security of Racing is very much in flux. I for one would rather have some honest discussion about what lays on the horizon, and how things can be done Today for the good of racing for years to come. Isn't NZ number one problem with infrastructure the fact that we keep kicking the can down the road.

But the issue is what due diligence is being done in NZ? Who is the regulator here, why have they not issued a statement saying that they are aware of Entains issues with Austrac in Australia and they are going to take a look s here in NZ just to assure the public that criminals are not using our TAB??? The TAB business is basically being run out of Entain in Brisbane, and below is from the TAB annual report. TAB NZ does not control Entain NZ or have joint control. This is a significant judgement as the partnering arrangement sets boundaries within which Entain NZ must operate and TAB NZ has a call option to reacquire the Entain NZ business either at termination of the 25-year partnership agreement or on the occurrence of any of the early termination provisions outlined in the strategic partnership agreement. The boundaries of operations are not unreasonable given the legislative and industry requirements that such a business operates within. Substantive rights included in the agreement are either limited or are constructed so that TAB NZ can fulfil its legislative obligations. Therefore, it is considered that these rights do not result in power to direct the relevant activities of Entain New Zealand Limited residing with TAB NZ and that TAB NZ cannot influence the operating and financing activities of Entain NZ. Further TAB NZ do not hold shares in Entain NZ, nor do they have the right to appoint the Directors or direct decision making of Entain NZ. Control of The Betting Accounts and Betting Vouchers Trust (the Trust) As at 31 May 2023, Entain NZ was established as Sole Trustee of the Trust and obtained

The old saying in the financial world is, Follow the money. So really there is a basic problem before we all look at the track managers and local committees, do clubs have enough money to maintain their tracks and facilities. I know each club gets a payment from NZTR for running a meeting which is on top of the funded stakes, the annual cost to maintain the track and the refurbishment cost each 5 years or whatever the time frame is should be met via this payment. If that is not the case as i suspect then NZTR is taking the racing product from the clubs who put it on at a discount, and the track issues are simply being magnified by NZTR who makes out it is working on a solution. Simple answer give a decent quant about 2 to 3 weeks and he will provide the true number that is required to be paid to the clubs.

Go have a look at The Mitchell Kerr case from Harness racing, that will tell you more on the Ladbrokes Australia and how they made an art of looking the other way.

I think a lot of sports in NZ get what is for them relatively large sums from the TAB, however the issue really is if Mum and Dad are giving your brother 80$ a week pocket money and you $20 a week pocket money, how long before you tap Mum and Dad up for a better share???? And on a global scale many sports are now waking up to the revenue they can generate on selling the rights to bet on their sports to wagering operators, even if the 4.4m for Basketball is correct, if they used the same formula for Basketball as they do for racing maybe Basketball would get 24.4m