In the day when Premier Paul Lennon said Tasmanian racing will be the beneficiary of the Betfair deal, the Australian Bookmakers Association remains opposed to the operation of betting exchanges.
The package negotiated with Betfair Australia will guarantee Tasmania’s racing industry a minimum of $5 million in revenue from exchange commissions in each of the company\’s first two years of operation.
The State Government, which will earn a 35 per cent share of gross profits on all Australian racing events, 15 per cent of the profits on other Australian sporting events and 10 per cent of the profits on international sporting events, will retain 5 per cent from each category as tax revenues and distribute among all three major racing codes, through Tote Tasmania, its share on Australian racing.
Betfair forecasts it will be distributing up to $35-40 million a year to the local racing industry by 2009/10.
Premier Paul Lennon said the funds from the Betfair\’s license will be injected into next year’s Inter Dominion festival to make it the richest Interdominion in history.
“At next year’s Tasmanian Interdominion, the value of the final alone will be trebled to $1.5 million, with more money going to heats and supporting races as well. In all, an extra $1.75 million will be dedicated to the Interdominion championship from Tasmania’s Betfair earnings. The total stakes pool for the series will now be $3.05 million,” said Lennon.
But also other major thoroughbred racing events will be immediate winners, with both the Hobart Cup and Launceston Cup increasing from $200,000 to $500,000 in prize money.
However, the Australian Bookmakers Association said in a statement that Betfair gaining a license in Australia may well be its undoing.
Contrary to many uniformed press reports the Tasmanian license will not give Betfair the ability to advertise throughout Australia, but rather only in Tasmania. Moreover the Australian state authorities, for the first time, will be able to prosecute Betfair for criminal breaches of their laws for publishing race lists and betting information via the internet to their residents without holding a wagering license in their states.
In separate news, Andrew Ramsden, Chairman of the Australian Racing Board, expressed his disappointment as well.
“Seven out of eight State and Territory Governments came to the conclusion earlier this year that betting exchanges were not in the interests of Australian racing. The Tasmanian Premier’s decision today doesn’t beat anyone to the punch – it gives a green light to something that every other State and Territory Government has already rejected. That surely tells its own story.”
“I am also disappointed, and somewhat surprised, that someone who has such a genuine interest in the sport would have chosen to do racing the disservice of diverting attention from Oaks Day in the midst of the Spring Carnival. Sadly, this seems to me reflective of the way in which the interests of Australian racing have been weighted throughout this process. The Premier has been determined for the past 5 months to find a way to issue a betting exchange licence to this consortium and the views of the wider Australian Racing Industry seem to have been a poor secondary consideration.”
“The next step for the Australian racing industry will be to examine the detail of the conditions that attach to this proposed licence, and see what safeguards they supposedly will offer to the sport. It is regrettable that this has not been possible before now.”
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