DIA calls for nominations for TAB board

by Brian de Lore
Published 11^th December 2020

Confirmation that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is firmly controlling TAB NZ, as the process of phasing out RITA continues, is blatantly evident on the DIA website this week with a call for nominations for the new board.

Under the sub-heading of ‘Recent Announcements’ on the ‘Appointments to statutory bodies’ page, it states: “Board Members of TAB New Zealand nominations are now open. See Calls for nominations below.”

Last week, the assumption made here that the ‘selection panel’ would shoulder-tap prospective independent board members, which is likely to number four, isn’t entirely correct. The web page displays hyperlinks to the ‘nomination form’ and ‘candidate information,’ which indicates anybody is eligible to throw his/her hat into the ring.

The board will be seven members in total, of which three comprise a nomination from each of the codes. In addition to the codes, nominations for board positions were also called for from each recognised industry organisation, and Sport and Recreation New Zealand.

The Minister has the ‘power of veto’ of any person recommended by the panel

The Minister has the ‘power of veto’ of any person recommended by the panel, but given Minister Grant Robertson has minimal industry knowledge, it seems unlikely he would use that power once the names arrive on his desk.

Discovering the DIA appointments page was achieved purely by accident and very obviously wasn’t advertised to the broader racing community.  Racing over many years must be the least transparent sport going, and with the TAB under DIA control, nothing much will change, and we know progress and implementation will be slow.

The candidate information page says that nominations will close on Friday, 15^th January, at 5.00 pm. It also says, in typical government department snails pace, a decision on the makeup of the board will happen by May 2021. The job spec follows:

$33,430 per annum for Directors

Further on it states: “Fees are subject to the requirements of the Cabinet Fees Framework, and have been set as $33,430 per annum for Directors, and as $66,685 per annum for the Chair.”

It’s possible a suitable candidate or two not currently in the sights of the selection panel may fit the criteria and be available to make a valuable contribution to the industry. If that’s you, then click on this link and download the nomination forms, etc:

https://www.dia.govt.nz/Appointments-to-Statutory-Bodies#current

The TAB could do with a valuable contribution at the highest level; it’s well documented here and elsewhere in recent history that poor administration and structure led to the decline that required the government bail-out of $50 million from Winston Peters at budget-time last May.

Before that, the Minister was given the document which outlined the formation of the TAB in 1951 with the thoroughbred and harness racing clubs underwriting the project at the not insignificant cost at the time of £50,000. But with Winston’s bail-out came assumed ownership by the Government, and what very recently was known as a body corporate but now comes under the statutory body process of the wing of the DIA.

Fundamentally, no business like the TAB should be under the control of the Government because public servants have an abysmal record of running businesses. Remember, the demise of racing in recent times has been at the hands of government appointees.

Here’s a three-minute video that highlights that claim:

SG Digital + NZRB

The interesting thing about the future of TAB NZ is the decision on partnering. Without partnering, New Zealand has no racing future, in my view, and partnering will come in the first instance as an option or later as an inevitability.

The global betting landscape has changed dramatically over the past couple of years, but even more so in COVID-19 year. Our TAB here is up seven percent since August, and we might have some extra cash to pay off debt but not increase stakes.

But spending in the third quarter in New Zealand as a whole in 2020 is up $1.8 billion or 28  percent on the same quarter in 2019 – most of it online because everyone has been stuck at home. It’s a hiatus and will not be permanent.

In Australia, the increased betting has been much more dramatic. A racing.com programme last week called ‘After the Last’ was on wagering in which a number of the corporate bookmaking CEO’s were interviewed and they painted a different picture of the betting successes achieved in COVID-19 year.

Sportsbet: There has been a reactivation of dormant punters in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands

Sportsbet CEO Barney Evans said: “There has been a reactivation of dormant punters in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. The last quarter result drew an increase of 76 percent.”

Former administrator and punter, Mike Symons, backed up Evans when he said:

“It was like Saturday afternoon was the highlight of the week. Primary school parents formed new punters clubs – new punters have been born during this COVID era, and the challenge for Sportsbet, Pointsbet, Betfair and others is can you keep those punters engaged in racing when their diaries are opened up, and you’ve got school sports and other commitments on the weekend.

“Racing was the only sport in town, and we had a captive audience.”

“Racing was the only sport in town, and we had a captive audience.”

Evans followed up with these inciteful and encouraging comments:

“Every year at Sportsbet, there had been a one or two percent shift to sport from racing for five or six years, but now there’s been a significant shift back. There are about 500 to 600,000 sports punters who have taken up betting on racing this year.

“The Channel Seven coverage has been brilliant, and we have demystified racing for them – it’s visible to them.

“Punters are out there wanting to be informed. It leads to a deeper education of the punter and therefore more engagement with the sport and hopefully longevity with their involvement as a punter.

“We are racing’s marketing arm – we are reaching out to the audiences. We’re spending the money on marketing and getting them in, and we have to make sure we are merchandising racing more appropriately.

“We need to make racing more accessible to someone who doesn’t consider himself an expert.”

“We need to make racing more accessible to someone who doesn’t consider himself an expert.”

Would it not be good to hear someone from our TAB making such positive comments. But we hear nothing, not a word, and what we’ve heard in the past has often proved to be highly inaccurate.

The program displayed a graph which showed that from March to July 2019 in Victoria the percentage of betting was 75.5% through digital and 24.5% through retail. But in March-July 2020, the forced retail venue closures throughout COVID drove customer activity into digital to 90.9% and only 9.1% through retail.

The program emphasised the most significant win has been selling racing to sports bettors. It was the most significant upside.

Men aged 18 to 34 made up 79% of new account holders.

They got to dormant customers which then reactivated and new customers acquired from elsewhere and it led to an increase in overall market share. Men aged 18 to 34 made up 79% of new account holders.

Wagering with Sportsbet made $200 million profit in Australia during the pandemic. Sportsbet doubled its betting on the Melbourne Cup while Tabcorp went backwards by six percent because they were more reliant on retail, which COVID decreased.

In the 12-months prior to June 2020, the total spend by corporate bookmakers on marketing alone was $134  million.

We don’t market racing in New Zealand, which has to change. We got rid of radio and most believe that was a huge mistake, and Trackside needs to be free-to-air.

For all the reasons stated above, from the ‘After the Last’ programme, we badly need to partner our TAB and plug into their computer, and become part of a global betting market that’s continually changing and getting better.

To watch the program, here’s the link:

https://www.racing.com/videos/2020-12-02/after-the-last–021220#/