Quality OZ Racing is keeping NZ Racing going.

[Chief Stipe]

The Australian races driving a surge in Kiwi turnover for Entain – The Straight

thestraight.com.au

New Zealand punters’ thirst for Australia’s feature races continues to grow with The Everest easily surpassing the Cox Plate as the second most bet on race, but still well behind the Melbourne Cup.https://bitofayarn.com

Entain, which now has a legislated monopoly in New Zealand, reported record Melbourne Cup turnover of $13.6 million in 2025, with more than 20,000 additional active customers compared to 2024.https://bitofayarn.com

That had a knock-on impact for the local Ellerslie meeting that same day, which broke the $5 million mark, a 37 per cent increase on 2024.

The data was confirmed by Entain’s New Zealand managing director Sam Moncur in his monthly update and backs up what Australasian chief Andrew Vouris revealed to The Guerin Report this week.https://bitofayarn.com

He confirmed that on Melbourne Cup Day, there were over ,000 active customers who had never placed a bet on racing before. That comes off the back of the overall active customers in October increasing from 105,600 in 2024 to 117,400 this year. https://bitofayarn.com

The Everest was Entain NZ’s biggest turnover race anywhere in October, generating $1.49 million across the TAB and betcha digital channels.

The Cox Plate generated $1.02 million and the Caulfield Cup $937,000. The Windsor Park Stud Soliloquy Stakes was the leading local event for October at $741,000. Overall, thoroughbred racing turnover for Entain fell in October by 4.8 per cent compared to 2024.

Sports turnover spiked by 72 per cent in October to reach $120.9 million, while turnover across all three NZ racing codes, including overseas, was $180.3 million.

It wasn’t just the Melbourne Cup driving additional engagement. In early November, New Zealand Cup day turnover defied a massive storm which hit the track mid-meeting, reaching $7.7 million, an increase of 9 per cent on 2024.

The previous Saturday, which featured the 1000 Guineas, saw turnover up by 30 per cent year on year. https://bitofayarn.com

[Murray Fish]

oh the irony!  give a transnational a closed shop!  meanwhile! the Punters focus there $ on overseas racing and sports events...  gee, this must end well!!!! 

[Chief Stipe]

31 minutes ago, Murray Fish said:

oh the irony!  give a transnational a closed shop!  meanwhile! the Punters focus there $ on overseas racing and sports events...  gee, this must end well!!!! 

Well at least ENTAIN are telling the local industry that they need to get their shyte together and provide a quality product.  With the prior ownership model their didn't appear to be any push back at all.

[Special Agent]

54 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Well at least ENTAIN are telling the local industry that they need to get their shyte together and provide a quality product.

Cromwell is one club that continues to attract good betting figures.  Does that put Cromwell on a par with Ellerslie as far as a quality product is concerned?  I guess quality product needs to be defined.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Special Agent said:

Cromwell is one club that continues to attract good betting figures.

Based on what evidence?

If they do then yes they probably are on pay with Ellerslie in terms of what the punter perceives as a quality product.

I note with 15 mins before the start of race 1 they have $4,500 in the W/P pools.  

[Newmarket]

So 105k TAB accounts 2024…. This year 117k, and this is with the introduction of Betcha? 
Was always going to be false figures when they once again have the monopoly…. 

[curious]

1 hour ago, Newmarket said:

So 105k TAB accounts 2024…. This year 117k, and this is with the introduction of Betcha? 
Was always going to be false figures when they once again have the monopoly…. 

And that's 5 months into the effects of the monopoly legislation? You'd expect that to be generating additional revenue of $10m a month by now wouldn't you?

[Chief Stipe]

9 minutes ago, curious said:

And that's 5 months into the effects of the monopoly legislation? You'd expect that to be generating additional revenue of $10m a month by now wouldn't you?

No why?  You are trying to find a link between the monopoly legislation AND the number of accounts AND an increase in revenue.  You are assuming that you know how many existing accounts with the TAB had accounts overseas AND that some of the new accounts were or weren't NZ customers with only overseas accounts that changed.  You are missing a whole lot of data before you derive causation.

[curious]

31 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

No why?  

Why not? Would you not expect if the monopoly were going to recapture revenue lost to overseas operators, that would be evident pretty much immediately?

[Chief Stipe]

46 minutes ago, curious said:

Why not? Would you not expect if the monopoly were going to recapture revenue lost to overseas operators, that would be evident pretty much immediately?

I never had the expectation that it would be $10m a month nor that it would happen very quickly.

[curious]

4 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

I never had the expectation that it would be $10m a month nor that it would happen very quickly.

Well Entain predicted that amount and Vouris certainly sounded surprised that it hadn't happened quickly.

Vouris said the previous ‘grey market’ occupied by overseas operators was worth around $180 million, but that hadn’t just disappeared overnight.

[Chief Stipe]

9 minutes ago, curious said:

Well Entain predicted that amount and Vouris certainly sounded surprised that it hadn't happened quickly.

Vouris said the previous ‘grey market’ occupied by overseas operators was worth around $180 million, but that hadn’t just disappeared overnight.

That's your interpretation of his reaction.  If it was his expectation that the transfer would be immediate then it was a bit unrealistic.  

[curious]

1 minute ago, Chief Stipe said:

That's your interpretation of his reaction.  If it was his expectation that the transfer would be immediate then it was a bit unrealistic.  

If it were going to happen, what would delay it?

[Chief Stipe]

36 minutes ago, curious said:

If it were going to happen, what would delay it?

Could be a number of things.

There are two sets of customers that could be affected.  

1. Those NZ punters that didn't have accounts with the NZ TAB and only bet with overseas agencies;
2. Those NZ punters that had accounts AND overseas accounts.

So what would delay punters punting on the NZ TAB?

1. Well some would throw their toys and give up punting altogether.  That won't last for long - the itch will get itchier;
2. Those that had only bet overseas might be waiting for compliance issues to get their punting money back to NZ.  I imagine for some it wouldn't be straightforward as they would have done all sorts of ruses to get the accounts created.  If they don't have an NZ account then they have to go through the account creation process;
3. Some would have NZ accounts and are already restricted so they can't up their betting.  Probably trying to convince mum to create an acccount;
4. Gone to underground options which might be temp or permanent;
5. ....
   
   There is of course the possibility that it wasn't near the esitmated leakage that the NZTAB and DIA estimated although reading the online moaning going on it seems there was a fair amount.  What percentage of your punting was in overseas accounts?

[curious]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

1.  What percentage of your punting was in overseas accounts?

About 80% in recent years. 100% for a decade or more prior to that.

[Chief Stipe]

2 minutes ago, curious said:

About 80% in recent years. 100% for a decade or more prior to that.

Right so what have you decided to do with that 80% ($1m)?

[curious]

7 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Right so what have you decided to do with that 80% ($1m)?

Way less than that. At the mo, NZTAB is getting 10% of it. Next year, I'll either not bet at all or solely in another jurisdiction again.

[Chief Stipe]

29 minutes ago, curious said:

Way less than that. At the mo, NZTAB is getting 10% of it. Next year, I'll either not bet at all or solely in another jurisdiction again.

Why?  With multiple agencies?

[curious]

8 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

Why?  With multiple agencies?

Better POT.