Wagering soft through blackout

|Shane Anderson - @Globalgallop

Racing Victoria is developing a better picture of the impact of the Sky Racing blackout on turnover as wagering operators update on results throughout the week.

Total turnover from Tuesday’s meeting at Geelong Synthetic, the first impacted by the blackout, was down 2.7 per cent against the 2015 Tuesday Geelong Synthetic average across four meetings, which was better than Racing Victoria had forecast.

There were some variances across individual wagering operators, with corporate bookmakers such as Crownbet witnessing an increase while the pari-mutuel and exchange were soft.

Crownbet had a 12 per cent increase on turnover from the previous Geelong Synthetic meeting two weeks prior while Betfair’s customer usage was down 10 per cent and turnover down 15 per cent.

A Racing Victoria spokesperson highlighted that the absence of vision in pubs and clubs impacted Tabcorp’s performance and returns to the Joint Venture wagering agreement that it has with the Victorian industry.

Tabcorp’s retail network, which includes agencies, pubs and clubs, is important to pari-mutuel turnover so Racing Victoria were expecting there to be greater impact compared to the non pari-mutuel operators.

Despite the frustration felt by punters they continue to engage with the numerous digital broadcasts available of Victorian thoroughbred racing.

Racing.com and Sportsbet digital platforms have increased viewership considerably since the Sky Racing blackout commenced, more than doubling figures from the previous Tuesday.

Crownbet began broadcasting Victorian thoroughbred racing on Monday after signing a non-exclusive deal with Racing Victoria on Friday and were satisfied with their viewing figures.

Results for Wednesday’s metropolitan standard meeting are expected to be made public late Friday.

Racing Victoria continues negotiations with Victoria Racing Club with hopes of reaching an agreement to aggregate their media rights, allowing Seven West Media to commence broadcasting Victorian thoroughbred racing using the Racing Live broadcast offered by Racing.com.

The Melbourne Racing Club, Moonee Valley Racing Club and Country Racing Victoria all signed with Racing Victoria on Monday.

Unless a deal is signed off on Friday, Saturday’s Moonee Valley meeting will not be broadcast on television, with further concerns over wagering impact.

There are also hopes that Tabcorp will reconsider their decision to blackout Victoria by signing another interim deal.

Tabcorp will be under enormous pressure to minimalise turnover impact due to the blackout as NSW, which is the centrepiece of their broadcast on Sky Racing, has lost meetings this week and Saturday’s Randwick meeting is under threat due to wet weather.