Additional $30m for 23/24

[curious]

54 minutes ago, Assange said:

So in other words the contestable fund is really a slush fund for the RIB. Didnt they start their existence with 6 million per annum budget, then the costs sky rocketed. Who are these guys actually accountable to, or are they a law untovthemselves?

No. The TAB is going to fund the RIB out of their revenue. The pokie funding which was funding the RIB will be available to racing and sports via the contestable fund.

[Chief Stipe]

27 minutes ago, curious said:

No. The TAB is going to fund the RIB out of their revenue. The pokie funding which was funding the RIB will be available to racing and sports via the contestable fund.

I thought part of the agreement with the Government was to relinquish the Pokie licenses?

If the TAB is funding the RIB from TAB revenue what are the Governance controls over RIB expenditure?

It can't be an open cheque book.

My understanding is the Pokie license only allows a narrow range of uses for the revenue therefore the contestable fund won't be able to fund stakes and I would have thought it wouldn't be able to fund track upgrades.

[curious]

The agreement to relinquish the class 4 licences is only IF the legislation to prevent NZ punters gambling elsewhere is passed.

And racing purposes, specifically including stakes payments, is an authorised purpose for Class 4 gambling proceeds.

Edited July 6, 2023 by curious

[Chief Stipe]

50 minutes ago, curious said:

The agreement to relinquish the class 4 licences is only IF the legislation to prevent NZ punters gambling elsewhere is passed.

My apologies for not knowing the answers to these questions but is the ENTAIN deal contingent on that legislation being passed?  (Which I would have thought was unlikely to occur before the General Election or even this year).

[curious]

12 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

My apologies for not knowing the answers to these questions but is the ENTAIN deal contingent on that legislation being passed?  (Which I would have thought was unlikely to occur before the General Election or even this year).

Indications from NZTR are that the legislation, if any, won't be before early next year. The Entain deal is already done and not contingent, however, there is apparently an additional $100m payment from Entain to NZTAB if it goes through.

[Chief Stipe]

39 minutes ago, curious said:

Indications from NZTR are that the legislation, if any, won't be before early next year. The Entain deal is already done and not contingent, however, there is apparently an additional $100m payment from Entain to NZTAB if it goes through.

That $100m is on top of the $ 1 billion in the first 5 years?  Roughly another $1.5 billion in turnover over how many years who knows?  I wonder what pay increase the CEO of TABNZ will get.

So $15m of the $30m comes from the Pokies.  Where did they say the other $15m was coming from?

[Chief Stipe]

This is a pretty damning self-published indictment of the past and current management of the NZ TAB:

• Over the 25-year arrangement, the proposed terms have the potential to deliver a total uplift in payments to racing and sports of c.NZ$5.0 billion relative to the counterfactual of TAB NZ’s declining commercial performance due to intense international competition and historic underinvestment in the business in key areas like retail, technology, broadcast and operations

[curious]

11 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

So $15m of the $30m comes from the Pokies.  Where did they say the other $15m was coming from?

Yes. The other $15m either comes from the $150m Entain upfront payment or reserves.

[curious]

16 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

This is a pretty damning self-published indictment of the past and current management of the NZ TAB:

• Over the 25-year arrangement, the proposed terms have the potential to deliver a total uplift in payments to racing and sports of c.NZ$5.0 billion relative to the counterfactual of TAB NZ’s declining commercial performance due to intense international competition and historic underinvestment in the business in key areas like retail, technology, broadcast and operations

I'm not convinced there is the stated potential but there is no doubt about the counterfactual.

[Chief Stipe]

8 minutes ago, curious said:

Yes. The other $15m either comes from the $150m Entain upfront payment or reserves.

Oh!!!  The same modus operandi as previous administrators.  I hope the "sustainable initiatives" don't include stakes and proper business cases are done not like those for the AWT's!

[Nowornever]

On 5/07/2023 at 10:15 PM, Reefton said:

Geo blocking is anti competitive behaviour in my view.  The commerce commission ought to have something to say

Geo blocking is a waste of time. So many ways to get around it it is not effective at all.

[mikeynz]

Geo blocking can be done, but only if betting sites are barred from accepting accounts or bank transaction from a certain country.

Should it happen, NO.

[Special Agent]

You have to love "proposed terms" and "potential to deliver".  The reoccuring theme of words with no substance and vague commitment.

As stated, this is absolutely a damning indictment of past and current management, no matter how it is dressed up.

I didn't realise the relinquishing of Class 4 licenses was only IF geo blocking was legislated.  To me that sounds like the pokies were never going to go then; more a statement to appease anti-gambling sectors for now and keep the current Racing Minister's nose clean leading into the election.

What a ploy this whole affair is!  We have an "agreement" so shrouded in secrecy that the governing bodies of the three codes have no idea what we are all signed up to but, blindly hold out their hands to a money tree with not a care as to it's source.  Apart from Entain's involvement, all personnel handling the distribution of monies appear to be unchanged.  Many within the racing industry are trying to interpret disclosed pieces of the deal.  If the people at the top making operational decisions are unaltered how is anything going to change?  If the situation was dire before Entain stepped in, and all the codes are doing is spending MORE money than ever before, how long before the situation is dire again?  But, to me it is far worse because as Dean from Entain stated this is the first time they have dealt directly with a country's government in a monopoly set up.

This has to be more than concern surely.  I think alarm bells are tolling so loudly they are deafening.

[Freda]

I tend to agree.

The lolly-scramble has so many so excited that there seems to be no idea at all that management and structures have to be upgraded to ensure continuity of this windfall.

As Nick Roberts has stated [ loosely paraphrased ] more funding for the status quo is not the desired response.

[Huey]

Call me negative again , but I see nothing changing substantially enough to make it all substainable. 

But the biggest sign to me is , I cannot see how they are going to increase wagering in this NZ environment. The interest levels locally just aren't there, the punter owner breeder is getting so old now and we are missing 2-3 generations & that's assuming the next generation are even interested.

For me it's another false dawn but this time a false dawn that wipes out all but the elite.