Brodie

Gamma, personally not terrified at all that Entain are going to stop the cash splash, as it doesnt affect me! However it is going to have dire consequences for those involved in the harness industry. The reality is that HRNZ are responsible for what happens with the future of harness racing in NZ and the result is on their shoulders! If they are happy with the way things are trekking then that is great, just would not be holding my breath!

Gamma, to be fair I do not believe that there would be too many harness enthusiasts that would be happy with the decisions that have been made by the four parties you mentioned? Brodie is just pointing out fact, that you could not defend! ATC, absolute incompetency Entain, self interest only and will pull the plug in 2 years, racing profit not what they require and poor decisions being made. HRNZ, no comment needed North Island harness - cot case! Gamma, all very sad but just the reality, snd things need to change for the sake of the long term racing. Hopefully I am totally wrong but I havent spoken to a single person who thinks things are going in the right direction.

Lol, i have never mentioned that the champions of North Island racing should piss off! Of course they should get accolades for what they have done for harness racing in the last 40 years or so! Its not Hrnz’s fault that the ATC has stuffed the racing in Auckland who was trying to make millions for racing up North! Problem is that they made decisions that have now ensured that it is not financially viable to continue to race in Auckland unless there is a massive bail out, and not sure whether that is ever possible? HRNZ certainly have no ability to be able to bsil them out as their finances are going to be in dire straights in 2 years time! Would be great for someone from HRNZ, probably the CEO to actually come on BOAY and advise us what is going on with racing in the North island? The thing is they wont because they havent got an answer and yet they continue to make decisions that anyone with business acumen would not be making! To be running races at Invercargill today for $40k and having 6 horses and being a group 3 is just hard to justify? Once again Gamma, never put down the champions of harness in either the North and South, just pointing out that what is happening can not continue.

Probably be larger as they wont be walking the dogs?

Can not be correct Galah? Brad Steele says everything is positive, he said so when Greg O’Connor interviewed him a few months back? I know in a couple of years there are going to be a lot of harness participants sho are going go be very irate at how HRNZ have handled the money from Entain!. Probably wont worry them cos they will be gone.

Fair enough Gamma. Lets have 8 or 9 horses races on every programme so that owners have more chance of getting some stake money! What I would be betting on is that harness racing in NZ will be gone in 10 years if not sooner through lack of participants, lack of punting and lack of horses! It is going to be bad enough in 2 years when the stakes are going to be slashed and there will be owners and breeders running fir the hills.

Gamma, not used to gallopers finishing down the track at all, as I do not invest on them! Too hard to follow form, so I dont touch them! You mention when they had 11 or 12 horses over the mile at Albion park, if you were out the back you had no chance! Rest my case, mile racing is not what harness should be running over! Horrible boring racing on all tracks in NZ.

Reality is that those that support the banning of greyhound racing must also support the extinction of the greyhound breed from NZ forever! I understand that the dogs are being desexed now, and despite the fact that greyhounds make good pets, we are going to eventually see no greyhounds in our streets being walked! shame really.

If that happens in NZ thrn you might as well turn out the lights! Mile racing is just so boring and doesnt attract wagering from serious punters! To attract new punters and enthusiasts to harness racing they need racing to be over longer distances than a mile. Just isnt a fair contest and there is no doubt ownership will drop, but then again the ones making the decisions arent owners or punters and with little business success.

Regards the closing if greyhounds due supposedly to cruelty to the animals? How hypocritical is it surely that NZ isnt able to wager on NZ dogs as it is too cruel, and yet we are able to wager on Austrslian greyhound racing?? Clearly the Ozzie dog racing isnt as cruel or we wouldnt be allowed to wager on it? Absolute lunacy to can greyhounds in NZ and wipe out the greyhound breed totally. Far better to Close down the Green Party and The Maori Party for the cruelty they would cause NZ citizens should there be enough losers who vote for the LEFTY Losers!

So how much does Entain have to give racing when the 5 years is up? Significantly higher turnover will bring bigger profits, maybe not yield wise but bigger profit overall. Yes some punters will do well but many punters will lose more as well! Where is it written that a gambling agency is only required to take wagering from losing punters? They put up the odds for punters to wager on and then only take the wagering from who they want? With the monopoly that the NZ TAB has now, they should be treating everyone with the same respect! If they want to have these restrictions, then restrict everyone to the same amount, that is my point!

Chief, I appreciate that the odds need to be set right for fixed odds! However there is generally a 30% margin approx. in favour of the TAB and so how on earth can they not be making money?. The bigger the turnover the more they can make, just like Briscoes etc. they have big turnover and make a % profit on that. Far better to encourage spending and make % profit on big turnover than making larger yield on much lower turnover by putting punters off! If they want to have betting restrictions on punters then so be it, but have those betting restrictions on every punter in NZ, just corrupt to be singling out some! They take a bet and then slash odds so that it is not attractive for other punters, so lose turnover. At the end of the day, that is the way they think is best for them to operate, however we will wait and see if it is going to be beneficial for NZ racing! It wont be!!

Certainly can say that I have no idea how the TAB used to operate with staff numbers etc. and do not know the day to day operations under Entain! However I do know that previously they had issues that needed addressing and this was selling out half the ownership for 25 years to An overseas gambling business Entain. Many thought this was going to be the saviour for the TAB with 900million being paid for the half share for the 25 years. This deal is very very short sighted in my opinion as once the $900m is wasted, what are we going to have for loss of half the profit? What I do know and it is probably the same with all gambling agencies worldwide is a business that has no scruples and acts and treats their customers with little ethics. Time is going to tell but unfortunately I believe that the NZ racing industry is in deep trouble, the TAB/Entain will be fine as they will survive off Sports Betting and online gambling in the years to come!

They are for WIN fixed odds only! There are other bets apart from WIN bets, its called Top 3!

Interesting! Does anyone know where the Bookies that set the odds are based or is it set by computers from Oz and algorithms do the rest?