Breeding & Racing Magazine

Racing NSW Congratulates Minister

Racing NSW issued a statement congratulating Racing Minister Graham West for "providing the NSW racing thoroughbred racing industry with certainty & direction by the passing of the Thoroughbred Racing Amendment Bill". Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'landys said: "The NSW racing industry now has its destiny in its own hands, as the NSW Government has provided a platform for the industry to grow & prosper. In particular, the ability to review the distribution of TAB revenue to race clubs will provide the opportunity for the industry to reward performance & to incentivise clubs to provide greater returns to participants & to have world's best training facilities. Racing NSW acknowledges that the Minister has gone to enormous lengths to satisfy the many elements of the NSW thoroughbred industry & believes the end result is fair & balanced to all stake-holders". In addition V'Landys said the race fields legislation "ensures wagering operators who gain commercially by exploiting NSW thoroughbred racing events pay a fee in recognition of the time, effort & cost which the thousands of participants put in to NSW racing, & contributes to providing a return to those participants. For far too long, certain wagering operators have been free riding on NSW racing without making any contribution towards the costs of producing racing events which has reduced the incomes of our participants. . . . . In an increasingly competitive wagering market, it is important that the NSW racing industry is paid a fair fee by all operators who use our product".