A CASH-STRAPPED NSW racing industry no longer has a safety net. For years the thoroughbred regulator in this state, Racing NSW, has waged a bitter battle with corporate bookmakers and betting exchanges in a bid to secure financial income streams, reports Craig Young in the Sydney Morning Herald.He says: The NSW Government's introduction of the controversial race fields legislation allowed Racing NSW to hit betting houses turning over more than $5 million on racing in these parts with a 1.5 per c

A CASH-STRAPPED NSW racing industry no longer has a safety net. For years the thoroughbred regulator in this state, Racing NSW, has waged a bitter battle with corporate bookmakers and betting exchanges in a bid to secure financial income streams, reports Craig Young in the Sydney Morning Herald.

He says: The NSW Government's introduction of the controversial race fields legislation allowed Racing NSW to hit betting houses turning over more than $5 million on racing in these parts with a 1.5 per cent tax on turnover. A booty of $30m has been raised since last year but Racing NSW refuses to plough it back into the industry.

The legislation is being challenged in court by two rivals. Betfair seems to be winning its argument while Sportsbet, in which the Irish-owned betting giant Paddy Power has bought a 51 per cent slice, is also serving it up to Racing NSW.

The ruling body in this state has always maintained it had a safety net. It had the copyright law to fall back on should the corporates defeat the race fields legislation.

But what happens if Racing NSW doesn't win? What happens if the corporates don't have to pay anything to racing?

The Victorians and South Australians are earning money from the corporates, having struck deals. The corporates pay them based on gross profit, not turnover. These states are earning money while the corporates are flooding them with sponsorship dollars. Could NSW racing end up with nothing, a big fat zero?

Anyway, back to the safety net. Well, Tabcorp may well have saved Racing NSW some legal expenditure on that front. Last week the one-time betting monolith announced it had withdrawn court action against Sportsbet over the use of tote odds.

In February, the TAB commenced proceedings against Sportsbet in the Federal Court. It believed the corporate bookie was infringing its copyright by putting the TAB's dividends on its websites and computer systems.

Meanwhile, in April, the High Court handed down a judgment in the Ice TV versus the Nine Network case. The case was related to Ice producing television "form guides". The network believed its copyright had been infringed. Not so, the High Court found. In pulling the plug on the case against Sportsbet, the TAB said the Ice TV decision had a "significant impact on copyright laws as it relates to particular issues in Tabcorp's case".

Of course, Tabcorp still utters that corporate bookies offering tote odds undermines the State Government's legislative objectives. Tabcorp has carried out independent research and it reckons the NSW racing industry is losing $58m a year to corporates offering tote-odds betting. Wouldn't the racing industry in this state like a slice of that?

Tabcorp has called for a national approach to wagering regulation. It hammered it home in a submission to the Federal Government's Productivity Commission. The Australian Racing Board has called for the same.

Tabcorp remains committed to taking on the corporates with its very own Northern Territory-based Luxbet operation and its TAB Sportsbet arm. That is the one hooked into the TAB in this state and it is allowed to offer fixed odds on just about anything that moves.

Pity the NSW Government won't get behind its cash cow. It won't allow TAB Sportsbet and the loyal local bookmakers who are paying their way a chance to compete with corporates on a level playing field. We spoke about it here last week. It is a joke. The Government has an independent report calling for radical change but it is loath to implement it.

Tabcorp reckons it is seeking urgent government action to address the deficiency. Too late for bookmaking tyro Tom Waterhouse. He is already in Melbourne and is about to set up a 24/7 operation out of Moonee Valley racecourse. Waterhouse is turning over huge amounts of money. He'd rather be operating out of Sydney but he can't.

The Victorians are earning about $40,000 a week from Waterhouse tax. Obviously racing in these parts doesn't need it

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