News

Mixed Feelings Over Court Judgement

16th Jun 2010

Racing And Sports - Wednesday, 16 June 2010

The NSW racing industry had had a win/loss result in today's Federal Court judgement on challenges by wagering operators to the controversial race fields legislation and fees that must be paid to Racing NSW.

Justice Nye Perram has ruled in favour of corporate bookmaker Sportbet's challenge to the legislation that was introduced in 2008 requiring wagering operators to pay a 1.5 per cent fee on turnover to Racing NSW for the use of race fields.

Sportsbet challenged the validity of the turnover fee, bringing into question race fields copyright and the formula that based payments on a set percentage of turnover.

While Justice Perram found that Racing NSW had the right under the legislation to charge bookmakers a fee for the use of its racing product he found fault in a $5 million threshold set by RNSW that favoured smaller bookmakers.

Betting exchange Betfair also brought a case against Racing NSW challenging the 1.5 percent turnover fee as discriminatory against low-margin wagering operators while protecting the TAB.

In a win for RNSW Justice Perram rejected the Betfair case.

While Racing NSW is certain to appeal against the Sportsbet judgement, the ruling body is faced with the prospect of having to repay a portion of the revenue it has collected from corporate bookmakers since the race fields legislation was enacted in 2008.

Justice Perram's finding supports the right of racing administrations to charge wagering operators a fee for bet on races under their jurisdiction but calls for the NSW legislation to be revisited to remove discriminatory clauses.

Funding for the Racing NSW Strategic Plan released earlier this year remains in limbo despite the court judgement as it will depend on the amount of money RNSW has to refund and the revenue it can collect from corporate bookmakers in future.