| Racing Australias Fact Book for 2017/18, published in December, tells us about the massive changes taking place in the betting scene. Detail is offered for the eight years since 2009/10. Total betting is up 57.8% over 2009/10. Thats mostly due to a 281.3% jump in Sports betting, now the second-most preferred betting option behind thoroughbred racing. Its now three times as big as greyhound betting ($11.2b v $3.3b). A dissection of Australia-wide figures for corporate bookies is not available for the smaller codes but TAB turnover rose by 32.0% to $3.265b for greyhounds and fell by 19.5% to $1.644b for harness racing. Thoroughbred TAB turnover actually dropped by 2.1% but rose by 35.8% if you include the corporates. Sports betting now makes up some 31.5% of all wagering, most of which flows through the NT, the home of corporate bookmakers. NT accounts for 80.4% of all Sports betting as well as 46.5% of all Thoroughbred betting. (I will not quote NT figures for Harness and Greyhounds as they appear artificially small). Ignoring the source of corporate turnover, NSW is easily the most dominant state, reflecting its population superiority. However, between 2009/10 and 2017/18 traditional Thoroughbred turnover declined in all states except NSW and WA. Only corporate business kept them positive, but most of that was due simply to a shift of patronage from the TABs to the corporates. Total betting on racing was up 24.3% to $24.464b or 57.8% to $35.694b if you add in Sports betting. That means that, over the period, racing barely covered the inflation rate and is not really competitive with Sports betting any more. The people have spoken or their I-Phones have. More critically in the long term, returns from betting are slowing down because corporates, which pay lower commissions, are making up a bigger piece of the pie. Simultaneously, the integrity of the greyhound betting market has fallen dramatically as TAB pool sizes fall and corporate turnover is always unknown. The addition of Ubet pools to Tabcorps may help ease that decline in 2019 but is unlikely to reverse the trend. * * * Limitations: Parts of the Fact Book lump greyhound figures in with harness racing. Total Australian greyhound data is no longer available figures normally published by Greyhounds Australasia ceased in 2015. Combining state figures for greyhounds is difficult or impossible as they use different presentations. The same goes for breeding data although indications are that current figures are still well below 2014/15. Breeding comparisons with 2015/16 and 2016/17 are not helpful in that they were affected by the live baiting episode and resultant government actions. Official GRNSW figures for 2017/18 are not available as the annual report has yet to be published. The Fact Book normally excludes Betfair figures as the company refuses to supply them. * * * Separately: Comparing 2017/18 with 2016/17, Victorian greyhound turnover rose by 10.8% but income (called Wagering Revenue) rose by only 4.7%, reflecting the increasing proportion contributed by the corporates and their lower commission rates. In NSW those changes were 13.5% and 5.2% resp. (according to figures supplied by GRNSW to GBOTA). The impact of smaller average fields due to dog shortages is unknown but can be expected to affect exotic betting.
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