Entain cutting costs! Writing on the wall?

[Brodie]

I have read where Entain is cutting costs like laying off many staff in Australasia,

Reality I dont believe has hit home at any stage with HRNZ that their woeful handling of the Entain cash splash is going to be a nail in the coffin of harness racing in many parts of NZ!

Just do not get it that these people on big salaries at the TAB and HRNZ are just not intelligent enough to acknowledge that they have stuffed up!

Anyway not happy that some of us are going to be proven right when Entain  does pull the pin on all this funding as it will affect so many in the industry hugely.

Not sure it is a particularly financially sound idea to be breeding standardbreds this year, as by the time they are old enough to race they will be racing for significantly lower stakes unfortunately.

The Entain deal has been mishandled shockingly and we have been telling them this for a long time,  but then we arent on the pay roll on big salaries and trying to make things look better than they actually are!

[Gammalite]

Not as bad as what you think all the time Brodster.  NZ harness is near Best in the world.

Because you have Great people running it and participating in it. 

Better to put money up for the participants by a betting company ? , than Not put any up lol. 🤣😂  5 years or 20 years , some is better than none 😁

They make millions from the betting mate. NZ harness just a small pimple on their radar. Aus harness even less of a problem for them , so they use their Sub branch of LADBROKES to support the Aussie harness . all year. every year.

Don't worry if they cut funding . It'll stop the Aussie 's coming and taking most of it 😂, and your 'Bush' racing for average money will just continue on as if nothing as happened.

Most Clubs have SPONSORS Brodster. They'll get the chance to chip in and support the industry again . Feed companies like the amazing QLD Garrards Horse and Hound already sponsor NZ for many hundreds of thousands annually. 

PRYDE Feeds sponsor the Big Victoria racing nights , and all the Group 1's. Vic still makes a loss annually because betting is a lot less these days , and not as prevalent as it once was. 

It's not just betting agencies that will keep you going . It's ALL THOSE OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES AS WELL.

The Studs (farms) and their Millionaires proprietors sponsor PLENTY already. Plenty of Sires Stakes racing.

Has happened for years . Long before Entain came along. TAB didn't run the show . HRNZ do. get with the program.  

[Brodie]

31 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

Not as bad as what you think all the time Brodster.  NZ harness is near Best in the world.

Because you have Great people running it and participating in it. 

Better to put money up for the participants by a betting company ? , than Not put any up lol. 🤣😂  5 years or 20 years , some is better than none 😁

They make millions from the betting mate. NZ harness just a small pimple on their radar. Aus harness even less of a problem for them , so they use their Sub branch of LADBROKES to support the Aussie harness . all year. every year.

Don't worry if they cut funding . It'll stop the Aussie 's coming and taking most of it 😂, and your 'Bush' racing for average money will just continue on as if nothing as happened.

Most Clubs have SPONSORS Brodster. They'll get the chance to chip in and support the industry again . Feed companies like the amazing QLD Garrards Horse and Hound already sponsor NZ for many hundreds of thousands annually. 

PRYDE Feeds sponsor the Big Victoria racing nights , and all the Group 1's. Vic still makes a loss annually because betting is a lot less these days , and not as prevalent as it once was. 

It's not just betting agencies that will keep you going . It's ALL THOSE OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES AS WELL.

The Studs (farms) and their Millionaires proprietors sponsor PLENTY already. Plenty of Sires Stakes racing.

Has happened for years . Long before Entain came along. TAB didn't run the show . HRNZ do. get with the program.  

Gamma, can not agree with you on several points you have made!

Do not believe that NZ has great people running the racing in NZ!

They may be nice people but many of them have not the business or financial success or sense that we require at the moment.

Many of the decisions that have been made have in my humble opinion been very poor, and the industry is going to suffer big time in the next year or two.

Several of the posters on BOAY do have the harness racing industry best interests at heart, whereas it appears the ones being paid are only there to collect salaries.

Many examples of this that I have pointed out in the past, and there is quite a list which have been poor and detrimental to racing infustry.

Australia is a much larger country obviously than NZ, and I do not believe we have anyone  or business that will be able to sustain making large payments to make racing sustainable in the future.

Havent heard anything from the committee that Winstone tried to form to brainstorm to help racing?

Sorry Gamma, but like so many others in NZ, we have no confidence in the ones making the vital decisions currently.

They actually need people who have run successful businesses in the past, as we just havent had that for a long time if at all?

Mates getting the jobs without a proven track record just does not work nowadays, despite what they like to do.

Brodie just telling it the way it appears!

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Brodie

[Gammalite]

18 minutes ago, Brodie said:

Gamma, can not agree with you on several points you have made!

Do not believe that NZ has great people running the racing in NZ!

They may be nice people but many of them have not the business or financial success or sense that we require at the moment

ENTAIN is a very successful company. and HRNZ has been very successful and done racing of 'The Highest order' for decades.

So not sure why you keep thinking these Professional People are so Bad at their jobs all the time .? they not exactly employed off the street? they're qualified Professional people. and results are great. It's your results that you're worried about. and don't /won't/can't accept that people don't bet on harness (or even support the sport ,like in the Golden 70's-80's era , critically that were  before POKIES and LOTTO. 

I know you had a political agenda and are one of those party supporters that will never change their support of a particular one,  so think the other parties can't do the job. So really you are impossible to argue with . no flexibility 😉

Harness racing is Unique as a lot of the Officials actually love the Sport , and strive for new Innovations , and to keep the sport going. ( and for better prizemoney and racing than ever too) and are doing a Sterling job.

But because the Betting is down , you think they're all failing. It's just a sign of the times Brodster. I'm sure you and I punt a LOT less than we used to. 

You guys won't even support North Island trotting at All ? so you're actually The Problem. if there is one . and can't see it lol 😋 (me too, and probably half the nation as well . racing is struggling too it seems? )  

for example mate,  I'd only find one in a thousand people in QLD that has even heard of champion Leap To Fame (Not connected to the sport). He didn't even get on the news winning the Interdominion in July.  You wouldn't find a single person that knows/ or cares he won the NZ Betcha race and NZ FFA> ..... the golden age is over 

 

[Brodie]

12 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

ENTAIN is a very successful company. and HRNZ has been very successful and done racing of 'The Highest order' for decades.

So not sure why you keep thinking these Professional People are so Bad at their jobs all the time .? they not exactly employed off the street? they're qualified Professional people. and results are great. It's your results that you're worried about. and don't /won't/can't accept that people don't bet on harness (or even support the sport ,like in the Golden 70's-80's era , critically that were  before POKIES and LOTTO. 

I know you had a political agenda and are one of those party supporters that will never change their support of a particular one,  so think the other parties can't do the job. So really you are impossible to argue with . no flexibility 😉

Harness racing is Unique as a lot of the Officials actually love the Sport , and strive for new Innovations , and to keep the sport going. ( and for better prizemoney and racing than ever too) and are doing a Sterling job.

But because the Betting is down , you think they're all failing. It's just a sign of the times Brodster. I'm sure you and I punt a LOT less than we used to. 

You guys won't even support North Island trotting at All ? so you're actually The Problem. if there is one . and can't see it lol 😋 (me too, and probably half the nation as well . racing is struggling too it seems? )  

for example mate,  I'd only find one in a thousand people in QLD that has even heard of champion Leap To Fame (Not connected to the sport). He didn't even get on the news winning the Interdominion in July.  You wouldn't find a single person that knows/ or cares he won the NZ Betcha race and NZ FFA> ..... the golden age is over 

 

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?

[Nowornever]

2 hours ago, Brodie said:

I have read where Entain is cutting costs like laying off many staff in Australasia,

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. 

[Nowornever]

47 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

Harness racing is Unique as a lot of the Officials actually love the Sport , and strive for new Innovations , and to keep the sport going. ( and for better prizemoney and racing than ever too) and are doing a Sterling job.

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.

[sarge]

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!

 

 

[Brodie]

10 minutes ago, sarge said:

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!

 

 

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! 
 

[Brodie]

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?

 

 

 

[Shab]

8 minutes ago, Brodie said:

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?????

There's a whole bunch of punters having their first ever bet on  Melbourne Cup because they're 18 and couldn't have a bet the year before cos not old enough. Not because Entain have won them over or any other reason he wants you to believe.

[mikeynz]

You wonder if they are letting the big sports punters on in the head to head options, on the Cricket, Rugby and the like, recently with Geo blocking they extended the punters promise to some sports options to a minimum of a $1000, so one wonders what happens to the guys who might want 50 grand on the ABs or the Aussie head to head, Betfair was the place for them, even had honest cash outs, are those punters being accepted or are not welcome, meaning many have given up.