THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - WAGERING AGREEMENT BRIGHTENS THE FUTURE OF QUEENSLAND RACING

By Graham Potter | Sunday, June 29, 2014

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

The announcement of the multi-million dollar wagering agreement reached between the Queensland Government, Racing Queensland and the Tatts Group is a massive boost to the industry.

Kevin Dixon, Chairman of Racing Queensland, highlighted the main points of the new deal.

“The most important thing for everybody to take away is that the deal struck is for thirty years … which means we take the uncertainty out of the equation,” said Dixon. “The deal is based on a growth strategy … that is, Tatts and Racing Queensland, instead of being adversaries, will be working as partners. We truly mean that. What is good for one will be good for both.

“The kick-start is a $150 million lump sum payment for the license. The racing industry will keep most of that.

“The government has really kicked the can with wagering tax deductions that make it all possible. That has been the part of the economics that has been missing. Tatts have previously been on an uneven playing field in that they have had a greater wagering tax than any other state. The government has corrected that so that Tatts is now better able to work as a partner and we can move forward together.

“At a minimum the deal will deliver an EXTRA $850 million to racing over the thirty years. It will in fact deliver a lot more than that because it allows us to benefit from a growth strategy instead of flat-lining.

“Tatts will also be spending $100 million or so over the next five years investing in their own business in order to bring back customers and to be able to compete effectively.”

And the action plan for the short term?

“The ink is just dry on the paper. We are going back now and re-doing our strategy based on what we now have.

“There will obviously be increases in returns to stakeholders. We would hope to be able to make it a lot clearer how that would work within four to six weeks. Certainly there will be increases with the start of the new racing season.”

All good so far, but Dixon also had a word of caution for stakeholders.

“What everybody should be aware of from the outset is that we now have the opportunity to have a look at the structure of what we do … how we pay prize-money and the way in which we arrange our meetings.

“It would NOT be the right assumption to say that we will just simply uplift evenly. We’ll take the opportunity now to have a look at that structure and make sure we spend the money where we get the most return.

“Whilst that doesn’t mean we will be cutting everything out, it means everything cannot be treated equally. Remember it is a growth strategy and we must restructure the spending to achieve the best return possible to the industry.”

Some individuals and some factions will not be happy with that … but then this is an opportunity for racing, not for individuals or factions.

For anybody who genuinely has the well-being of racing at heart, this would be as good a time as any to come to the party.

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