MY CALL: A NATIONAL TOTE IS NO GOOD THING EVEN IF THE TABCORP- TATTS MERGER GOES AHEAD

By David Fowler | Tuesday, June 13, 2017

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.

Too many assumptions and conclusions are being made and being drawn from the proposed Tabcorp-Tatts merger.

I'm confident the merger will proceed.

I'm also confident that the full extension of time taken by the Australian Competition Tribunal won't be fully utilised. That deadline is in mid September.

But if the green light is given, the new entity won't happen overnight.

I would expect a roll out of 12 to 18 months.

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Why do some media types keep peddling a national tote pool as a certainty if the merger comes up trumps?

It's a possibility but certainly no good thing.

It's worth remembering Victoria and New South Wales share the TABCORP umbrella and maintain separate totalisator systems.

The biggest stumbling block to the national concept is that TAB's are state run entities and they jealously guard this particular asset.

States only want to defer to the federal arena when it's not their way financially.

It may happen if a merger proceeded but would be several years down the line.

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And this notion that a national tote pool will knock the corporates out of the ring is too simplistic by half.

There is no doubt such a betting set-up would encourage punters because of the larger pools. This is a particularly big asset for the smaller codes of trotting and greyhounds racing.

I'm not as confident as many that one pool would entice the punter to actually bet bigger.

Most punters set their marks in their gambling activities whether they be professional or recreational.

And a one dividend across the board situation can easily be countered by the corporates saying "dividend + 5 cents"

Some corporates deserve a decent whack for their questionable relationships with punters but their presence has invigorated traditional totes to levels we might not have seen had they not come into existence.

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It never ceases to amaze me how administrators consider bookmakers and punters the last people to ask about racing matters.

I often think their ignorance of both groups is convenient to hide their own limited knowledge of gambling.

I don't know how many times over the years I've seen administrators sit around a table discussing wagering yet many wouldn't know where the tote window was!

Successful bookmakers and punters use their own money as well rather than having the luxury of relying on industry funds.

Sydney-based Dominic Beirne and Rob Waterhouse illustrate my point perfectly.

Wealthy and highly successful through the racing industry, their opinions on many matters are intelligent, considered and thought provoking.

Beirne, a former bookmaker and now form analyst, understands the whip/protest argy bargy can only be solved through quantifying the situation,

He has developed a mathematical equation to determine a dismissed/upheld decision. Thinking outside the square.

It might work. It mightn't work but at least Beirne is always thinking.

Many administrators should bite the bullet and bring the likes of Beirne and Waterhouse into the decision-making tent rather than looking the other way.

David Fowler