Mr ADAMSON - 1994-08-24
Is the Treasurer able to allay any fears that Territory punters have been disadvantaged because of the Northern TAB pool switch from the Victorian TAB to the New South Wales TAB?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the short answer is that there has been no disadvantage. In fact, I will bring honourable members up to date with what is happening. We have had a fairly traumatic period over the last 5 months as we have had to negotiate a contract into new pools as a result of the Vanuatu VICTAB decision that saw the ACT link directly into VICTAB to obtain access to the Victorian pools. I understand that that matter was settled out of court recently and now the ACT has gone in with Victoria whilst the Northern Territory has chosen to go in with New South Wales. Currently, we are linked to New South Wales via a conduit, that conduit being the ACT, but it does not have access to our pools and there was a time, for a couple of weeks, when the punters in the ACT had no outside superpools and were having to contend for less than $100m of their own pool money.
This is important because the Northern Territory gains about 15% of the TAB's turnover and, in 1993-94, that turnover was $66.8m, an increase of more than $7.5m on the previous year. That represents about $10m in revenue which is then put back into the community and the racing industry. It is of interest to note that, since linking into New South Wales on 25 July, our turnover has jumped by an average 14% per week. In the first week of operation, we recorded a 24.59% increase. The punters like it. They are betting with us in increasing amounts. There is one other area that we need to tidy up and that is the form guide in the newspaper. Unfortunately, the Southern Australian races miss out simply because there is not enough room to show them. Priority is given to the major areas of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. It is quite common for the form guide in the NT News to start at race 5 ...
Mr Stirling: In most weeks, the greyhounds do not even get in.
Mr COULTER: The honourable member has an interest in greyhounds, given that he owns one himself. The TAB turnover at the greyhounds is now almost $1m and that is
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significant. The greyhounds are contributing. There are still difficulties from time to time, but they are going quite well. The 8TAB radio is operating now. If we can address the form guide problem, the amount of money travelling through the TAB pool will increase significantly. That is something that I would like to work on now. The punters in the Northern Territory can be relieved that they were not facing the same predicament as their colleagues in the ACT TAB are confronting. If the current trends continue, we can expect to be at least 15% up on our turnover this year over last year. That is growth for the industry which will make racing even better in the Northern Territory.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the short answer is that there has been no disadvantage. In fact, I will bring honourable members up to date with what is happening. We have had a fairly traumatic period over the last 5 months as we have had to negotiate a contract into new pools as a result of the Vanuatu VICTAB decision that saw the ACT link directly into VICTAB to obtain access to the Victorian pools. I understand that that matter was settled out of court recently and now the ACT has gone in with Victoria whilst the Northern Territory has chosen to go in with New South Wales. Currently, we are linked to New South Wales via a conduit, that conduit being the ACT, but it does not have access to our pools and there was a time, for a couple of weeks, when the punters in the ACT had no outside superpools and were having to contend for less than $100m of their own pool money.
This is important because the Northern Territory gains about 15% of the TAB's turnover and, in 1993-94, that turnover was $66.8m, an increase of more than $7.5m on the previous year. That represents about $10m in revenue which is then put back into the community and the racing industry. It is of interest to note that, since linking into New South Wales on 25 July, our turnover has jumped by an average 14% per week. In the first week of operation, we recorded a 24.59% increase. The punters like it. They are betting with us in increasing amounts. There is one other area that we need to tidy up and that is the form guide in the newspaper. Unfortunately, the Southern Australian races miss out simply because there is not enough room to show them. Priority is given to the major areas of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. It is quite common for the form guide in the NT News to start at race 5 ...
Mr Stirling: In most weeks, the greyhounds do not even get in.
Mr COULTER: The honourable member has an interest in greyhounds, given that he owns one himself. The TAB turnover at the greyhounds is now almost $1m and that is
Page 61
significant. The greyhounds are contributing. There are still difficulties from time to time, but they are going quite well. The 8TAB radio is operating now. If we can address the form guide problem, the amount of money travelling through the TAB pool will increase significantly. That is something that I would like to work on now. The punters in the Northern Territory can be relieved that they were not facing the same predicament as their colleagues in the ACT TAB are confronting. If the current trends continue, we can expect to be at least 15% up on our turnover this year over last year. That is growth for the industry which will make racing even better in the Northern Territory.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016