FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK - LOVE THEM OR LOATH THEM, CORPORATE BOOKMAKERS ARE HERE TO STAY

By John Schreck | Wednesday, February 17, 2016

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

The role of corporate bookmakers in racing means different things to different people but the fact is that corporate bookmakers are here to stay and anybody that thinks otherwise has got their head well and truly buried in the sand.

My attitude in relation to corporate bookmakers from the very beginning was that it is better to have them inside the tent, than outside the tent. That was my attitude some years ago, and it hasn’t changed.

I have read some strong criticism of the way corporates allegedly like to have losing punters much more than they like to do business with someone who is inclined to be a winner ... which is obviously disappointing, but that does not negate the fact that these days there certainly seems to be a place in the wagering business for them.

I think the critics have to come to terms with the fact their presence is not going to diminish. If anything, it is going to get greater. They won’t go away. They will grow.

Even the parimutuel operators ... Tabcorp and these sorts of places ... are growing their fixed odds business (their ‘bookmaking’ business) to a great degree.

Rightly or wrongly, that seems to be the way to go. Punters like fixed odds if they can get it.

I say again, whether you like or loath the corporate bookmakers they are here to stay and they are going play an increasing role in the wagering business.

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Are corporate bookmakers making a fair contribution to racing?

After I retired some years ago I did some work for a Corporate Bookmaker’s Association when corporate bookmaking wasn’t as big as it is now.

Even at that time there was a lot controversy about what tax and fees they would pay. In many ways they were maligned but, in my experience with them, they were always prepared to pay a reasonable tax on turnover. They were never against paying a fair return.

To this day though, the satisfactory resolving of that situation for all parties remains a sticking point and it is something that probably will remain contentious until we have a national body fully controlling racing, which would mean you wouldn’t have had corporate bookmakers setting up in Darwin.

While a national control body, like the often spoken about national tote, makes sense, it, for whatever reason, never manages to gain any traction, and therefore remains in the realms of wishful thinking.

But that doesn’t stop you or I from wondering what racing would look like if it had one, national, controlling body like the AOC (Australian Olympic Committee), the AFL and the NRL ... and so on.

Chances are it will solve more problems than it creates.

You can formulate your own opinion as to why it doesn’t happen.

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To balance the argument ‘for and against’ corporate bookmakers ... consider the following.

It should be understood that people like Mark Read and the late Colin Tidy, who have been corporate bookmakers, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying race horses and racing horses.

A lot of them are genuine racing people who would not do anything in a deliberate way to bring about the demise of the sport because it is not in their interests to do so.

There is also the significant sponsorship that corporate’s bring to the game as well as their huge investment in advertising and promotion from which the sport derives benefit.

I know in Victoria the corporates are generating a lot of new business for the sport and input revenue for the sport itself so, while their might be a debit column, corporate bookmakers do deserve to be given some credit for what they do for racing on certain fronts.

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As far as betting exchanges are concerned, I’ve never been a big fan of betting exchanges. In fact, let me rephrase that ... I don’t like them ... full stop!

Betfair is not a very big one if you compare it to exchanges that operate out of Asia, but, again, the fact is they are also here to stay.

Even if people like myself don’t like them for all sorts of reason ... that is too bad. They too are part of the new wagering world.

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It ultimately all comes down to the rapidly changing face of the wagering landscape and how well racing authorities and its players are best able to adapt to it for mutual benefit.

There is no perfect world so whether you are a punter. or whatever your position in the racing game, there are always going to be some things you don’t like that you have to live with.

The role of corporate bookmakers in racing?

Like I said, that will mean different things to different people!