3 minute read
In a worldwide landmark case the Australian High Court on Friday dismissed appeals by betting exchange Betfair and corporate bookmaker Sportsbet against the validity of NSW Racing Administration Act 1998, commonly called race fields' legislation.
The two wagering operators commenced legal action against the legislation that gave Racing NSW the ability to charge wagering operators licenced to wager on NSW racing a fee of 1.5% on turnover.
In June 2010 Justice Perram ruled that the NSW legislation was valid, and that a fee that the industry decided on could be levied.
Betfair and Sportsbet appealed to the Federal Court and on November 17th, 2010, the Chief Justice Keane, on behalf of himself, Justice Lander and Justice Buchanan dismissed the appeals by Betfair and Sportsbet.
At that stage the costs were estimated by legal experts at some estimated $9 million by all parties.
In December 2010 Betfair and Sportsbet applied to seek special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia in relation to the Federal Court ruling.
On March 11th, 2011, Chief Justice French, Justice Gummow and Justice Kiefel granted the leave on reduced grounds following hearings in Sydney and on August 31st, 2011, the High Court commenced a three day hearing on the matter.
Friday's judgement finally brought an end to the matter which has been watched closely by all racing jurisdictions not only throughout Australia, but the entire racing world. Only France has previously successfully implemented a system of a fee for online bookmakers to bet on their racing.
This NSW judgement will now be used in all Australian states when current arrangements run out with corporate bookmakers and Betfair, and every other racing jurisdiction without arrangements with these wagering companies will be looking closely to have similar fee based agreements.
The legal cost for all the appeals has been estimated by a legal expert at between $15 and $20 million. There were 23 senior counsel, including every State Attorney General in Australia, in the High Court on Friday to hear the judgement. Depending on the High Court's decision on costs Racing NSW will receive some 80% of its legal costs back from the appellants.
The judgement is complete vindication by racing authorities in NSW since the legislation was enacted.
Since that time the board of the state's governing body Racing NSW has changed several times. The former state Labour government which backed the industry in its reasoning to achieve a rightful fee for its product has been dismissed by electors and the incoming Liberal government continued the backing of the industry.
The two metropolitan racing clubs have merged and the autumn racing carnival has been given major backing by the state to create a worldwide event of racing and sales. Some of the original corporate bookmakers who backed the Sportsbet legal case have been taken over by larger international bookmakers, who would have done so in the full knowledge that the case might go against them, but still saw value in buying the Australian based companies.
Major renovations to facilities are underway at Randwick and Rosehill and prizemoney levels have been maintained from part of the race field fees from wagering operators such as Tabcorp.
Up to $200 million had been collected before underlying support was given to use part of the funding for prizemoney and $100 million is now available to racing in NSW for the use in infrastructure and stakes.
From now on it is expected that $50 million per year will be collected from race fields' fees for Racing NSW to place into the industry.
“Today is only the beginning for New South Wales as we set our sights on becoming a leading jurisdiction in world racing,” said John Messara, chairman of Racing NSW.
“There is much to be done to improve the viability of out participants and to assist race clubs with track and infrastructure improvements, especially in county areas. Also, we recognise the need to improve our race programmes and the way in which we present racing and we are working on this.
“Next week we will announce the first stage of prize money increases and other details of race fields funding. Later there will be other initiatives to announce.
“It is time for all of us to take off our battle fatigues put on the overalls and start building a new future for our great industry. From today I trust that all racing participants including the corporate bookmakers can work harmoniously in the interests of racing.”
“Australia's thoroughbred, greyhound and harness racing industries are significant employers and part of Australian culture. It is important that racing is able to charge a fee for its product that allows it to continue to be successful,” said Tabcorp chief executive officer David Attenborough.
