THE BIG news of the day, broken in the Sydney Telegraph, has announced that a National Tote will be introduced to Australian racing after a landmark deal brokered between Tabcorp and the racing industry.
This is long overdue and hopefully it is not too late to counter the takeover of the betting industry by corporate bookmakers, many of them parasites who only want to accept the business of punters who cannot win.
The Telegraph story, written by Adam Dobbin, reads:
A LANDMARK deal brokered by sporting heavyweights Peter V’landys and Gillon McLachlan has paved the way for the highly anticipated National Tote to be introduced to Australian racing.
In arguably the most pivotal move to the wagering landscape since the privatisation of the TAB in the late 1990s, the future of parimutuel betting will now rest with just one single tote, which is being hailed as a significant shot in the arm for the domestic racing scene.
News Corp can reveal that the deal between V’landys and McLachlan will also see Racing NSW take control of dedicated Sky Racing channel Sky Thoroughbred Central to further enhance the promotion of NSW racing. A funding component will be attached also.
The monumental deal comes as V’landys this week begins three months long service leave from Racing NSW to run the National Rugby League (NRL) in an interim capacity, filling the void of Tennis Australia-bound Andrew Abdo.
The National Tote agreement rounds out a significant fortnight for V’landys. Last week he orchestrated rugby league’s record broadcasting deal as well as finalising the move to place the Australian Turf Club into administration.
Then last Friday it was revealed a number of key NSW races had been eleveted to black-type standing, led by the $10 million Golden Eagle receiving Group 1 status.
The new National Tote will see the NSW TAB (NSW), SuperTAB (Vic, WA & ACT) and UNITAB (Qld, SA, TAS & NT) all funnel into one solitary ‘super pool’ to enhance liquidity, stimulate betting and in turn offer better odds for punters and returns to the racing industry.
Not long after taking the reins of Tabcorp in August, 2024, McLachlan was quick to pledge that bringing the National Tote to life was high on his agenda.But it’s been a far from seamless process for the Tabcorp supremo, having to overcome numerous regulatory challenges along the way.
McLachlan had put plans of a July 1, 2026 start date on the record late last year before further issues derailed the project.
But as the concept began to gain momentum with the majority of jurisdictions on board, McLachlan still had his biggest hurdle to overcome, convincing and then guaranteeing V’landys that a National Tote was in the best interests of NSW racing.
Talks between the two influential figures have been going on for months in a bid to find a way forward on burning issues that had been described as “deal breakers” for Racing NSW.
Those discussions had yielded fluctuating fortunes until late last week when a path forward was agreed upon to usher in a new dawn for the Australian wagering industry.
But even then it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, with the powerful duo grappling over the finishing touches of the deal until today.
With all racing codes now on board, Tabcorp has the green light to put the wheels into motion.
An August 22 start date, which is Group 1 Winx Stakes at Royal Randwick, has been flagged for the National Tote.
Australian punters spend north of $4 billion a year on tote betting which is the industry’s most traditional and best returning form of wagering.
But in recent years, since the prolifitation of online wagering operators, tote betting has waned following the advent of new, savvy betting products.
It’s anticipated the National Tote will breathe new life into a range of greyhound and harness meetings in particular, which struggle to generate significant tote interest, most often in undesirable timeslot.
