News

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tote and racing at odds over fees in Australia

According to the Sydney Morning Post, the racing in New South Wales and tote operator Tabcorp are in dispute over the fees to be paid to racing.

Tabcorp used to contribute 4.7% of turnover to racing. However, with the arrival of corporate bookmakers, a new law has been passed imposing a 1,5% fee on turnover for the use of race data. Racing New Sourth Wales argues that Tabcorp would also have to pay this 1,5%, lifting its total contribution to 6,2% of turnover.

Tabcorp currently contributed AUS$226 million last year and would have to pay an additional AUS$33 million for race data.

The race data legislation is currently being challenged in court by Betfair and Matthew Tripp's Sportsbet. They prefer to pay a share of gross profit instead of a percentage of turnover.