The Herald Sun reports that concerned Victorian racing stakeholders will meet Thursday to discuss the recent approval given by Racing Victoria Limited to allow betting exchange operator Betfair to publish Victorian race fields and match wagers on Victorian racing. The paper says the aim of the meeting is to "recommend a course of action to Racing Victoria."
Last week Racing Victoria Limited surprised many in the Australian racing and betting industry when it revealed that Betfair had sufficiently satisfied integrity concerns to obtain approval to publish the race fields for Victorian racing. Victoria's racing and gambling acts were in amended in November 2005 to require all wagering providers to first receive permission from Racing Victoria Limited before publishing the race fields and taking wagers on races in the state. Because integrity and product fee concerns were at the heart of the amendment, it appeared that the new rules had been drafted specifically to prevent betting exchanges from matching wagers on Victorian Racing.
Betfair will pay a product fee of 1 percent of turnover to Racing Victoria and has volunteered to pay A$1.1 million to Racing Victoria in back taxes for its coverage of Victorian racing from 2002 to 2005.
In the days since Betfair's approval in Victoria, newspaper reports have been littered with disapproving comments from representatives of Australia's racing and betting industries. Thursday's meeting will give the dissenters a forum to discuss the matter with Racing Victoria's decision makers.
Although it has approved Betfair to publish race fields and match wagers, Racing Victoria says it remains opposed to betting exchanges and will not accept Betfair's offer to sponsor Victorian racing events.
Betfair's co-founder and international director Edward Wray told Internet-based Thoroughbred News that the ability of his company to once again publish Victorian race fields will benefit the state's racing industry because it will enable Betfair's international client base to wager on Victorian racing.
"It is a major opportunity in general, as it makes it a much more international product," Wray said.
Betfair also believes that restrictions on its ability to advertise interstate is limiting the revenue growth potential for Australian racing.
"The restrictions are designed to protect the local TAB operations," said Andrew Twaits, Betfair's director of corporate and business affairs. "It means that racing is losing millions in sponsorship, which is a direct cash injection into racing. If the competition was opened up, then it would mean that TAB's, bookmakers and us would all be competing with our sponsorship dollars. The restrictions are protective by their very nature and racing is missing out."
Wray added that racing's main competitors were other sports and that racing's challenge is to reach individuals who have recently gained the ability to legally wager before other sports do.
"If racing stands still while other sports go forward, then racing goes backwards," he said. "Racing needs to adapt to the times."
Is Queensland Next?
The Courier Mail reports that Betfair would like to set up a meeting with Queensland Racing to explore sponsorship opportunities. Queensland Racing Administration Manager Malcom Tuttle said the group will meet with Betfair, though he added that it may simply be out of courtesy.
"Betfair has A$4 million of sponsorship to spend, and we get A$118 million from our agreement with UNiTAB," Tuttle said.
UNiTAB's managing director, Dick McIlwain, also doubts Betfair's ability to sponsor races in Queensland. "Betfair can't sponsor Queensland racing under the existing product agreement we have with QR unless we agree," McIlwain stated.
McIwain also revealed that his company has not ruled out the possibility of operating its own betting exchange, but he stressed that if it were to do so it would adhere to pre-conditions, which include "an acceptance by Australian racing authorities of betting exchanges or if another betting exchange was licensed in another state and posed a threat to UNiTAB's market."
He stated that UNiTAB has been approached by "a number of overseas betting exchange operators," and insisted that it would not break away from the racing industry by "running a renegade betting exchange."
Any future UNiTAB betting exchange would be offered in unison with its present operations.