Everest, Eagle fuels record turnover in NSW

These were some of the features from the Racing NSW annual report for 2020-21 released earlier this week which revealed the list of the most wagered NSW races is now led by two relatively new events with The Everest clearly on top followed by the Golden Eagle.

The Everest was being run for just the fourth time in 2020 and it was the Golden Eagle’s second renewal so both races have quickly established themselves with punters and replaced Sydney’s iconic Golden Slipper as the NSW races attracting most bets through TAB and other wagering operators.

It is understood betting on The Everest and the Golden Eagle last month exceeded the 2020 betting returns.

NSW’s racing industry returned more than $291 million prizemoney to owners last season – the highest of any state and by a considerable margin.

With further Racing NSW prizemoney increases already announced for 2021-22, those returns to owners will swell to over $310 million.

The robust NSW racing industry’s massive prizemoney levels are being fuelled by record wagering turnover which is increasing revenues from TAB and other wagering operators through the race fields scheme, wagering taxation parity and the point of consumption tax.

Racing NSW championed the introduction of race fields legislation more than a decade ago and fought hard for wagering parity with Victoria, resulting in two new and lucrative wagering revenue streams for the NSW racing industry.

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys detailed in his report that funding “from the Race Fields scheme has continued to grow significantly and is now almost on par with the revenue received from the NSW TAB.’’

V’landys also detailed the increased returns to the NSW racing industry from the Betting TAB Legislation Amendment Act 2015 which has provided wagering tax parity with Victoria.

The 2020-21 was the first year of full wagering tax parity with the NSW thoroughbred code receiving $72.39 million which takes the total amount received so far from parity to more than $250 million in five years.

Thoroughbred racing industry returns from the point of consumption tax also reached nearly $40 million last financial year.

These new revenue streams has enabled Racing NSW to introduce new big money races like the $15 million The Everest, $7.5 million Golden Eagle, $2 million The Invitation, $1.3 million The Kosciuszko, plus $1 million races like the Bondi Stakes, The Hunter and The Gong in recent years, and increase stakes for more traditional races like the Golden Slipper, now worth $5 million (up $1.5 million).

But Racing NSW’s policy to maximise returns to owners has resulted in increased stakes at the sport’s “grassroots” including the introduction of The Midway races of $100,000 each Sydney Saturday meeting.

Prizemoney for TAB Highways are now worth $100,000 (up from $75,000), and there has been increases in minimum race stakes at country TAB meetings from $22,000 to $24,000 per race, country Sky Meeting races from $12,000 to $15,000, non-TABs from $8,000 to $10,000n and picnic races from $3,000 to $4,000.

Racing NSW also detailed in the Annual Report that wagering on NSW thoroughbred racing has increased by more than 65 per cent over the past five years.

MOST WAGERED NSW RACES

Top 10 – Season 2020-21

1. – The Everest
2. – Golden Eagle
3. – Golden Slipper
4. – Doncaster Mile
5. – ATC Derby
6. – Yes Yes Yes Stakes
7. – Epsom Handicap
8. – The Metropolitan
9. – Queen of the Turf
10. – George Ryder

Originally published as Racing NSW’s spring strategy has seen turnover soar in 2020-21 season to record levels