mardigras

The last thing we need is a V'Landys. The only useful thing I have seen from him is to enforce minimum bet limits rules. And the post about the job half done seems far too fixated on costs. I'd rather they were focused on industry size relative to achievable income and how to grow that income. The NZ racing industry doesn't have sufficient revenue for the current size of the industry even if there were no costs to pay especially given that the codes already receive around 100% of the gross revenue they generate

I doubt it is impossible - but is getting harder each year which is all self inflicted. They are where they are now because of their own flawed approach to generating revenue (and interest).

As said on other thread, I hope there is going to be more than just a focus on cost cutting. There has to be something on how the NZ Racing industry itself is going to generate more income. Exclusive of Pokies, Sports, Offshore Racing. Self sustainable income. If he doesn't provide anything there, then at best, it will be a stop gap.

I guess in the case of New Zealand - the racing industry gets all the income tax, and all the licence fee that might otherwise be paid to a government. Whereas in places like Oz, the racing industry gets a small portion of that back.

I would have thought improving stakes was a long term goal. I think they need to attempt to bring punters back to betting on NZ racing. Self sustainability and all that. I'd be looking at ways to differentiate NZ racing from overseas racing and go down that path.

Possibly because of the media highlighting state gov assistance on things like their tracks. Compared to things like licence fees, income tax etc.

I don't necessarily think NZRB should be scrapped. But I think it's focus should change. What surprises me is that I still read about the belief that Australia does as well as it does due to the level of state/regional government support. NZ gets far more government support than they do in Oz. And the numbers support that.

I look forward to the outcomes of Mr Messara's recommendation to the Minister. My expectations are that the focus will be on cost cutting/re-organisation. But what I'd like to see is what strategy he recommends to take the NZ industry to a self sustainable level. He comes from a jurisdiction where that is possible. Cost cutting and re-organisation alone does not get us anywhere near that level. So I am interested in seeing how he plans to achieve that. Yet, I believe that is certainly possible.