The decision to be handed down at 10am this Friday by the High Court is of critical importance to the Australian and New Zealand racing and breeding industries, but we will not fall off a cliff if the NSW Race Fields Legislation is not upheld. The NSW government and Racing NSW have been very determined in their fight for what is right for the racing industry and the particpants who put on the events. The basic principal that the owner of a product should be able to charge an appropriate fee for it's product is a basic business principal which was supported by a full bench of the Federal Court, and should be upheld by the High Court. The turnover based model is a simple and fair model, used by other racing jurisdictaions and similar to many other sectors that charge royalties or licence fees based on a % of turnover. If the NSW Race Fields Legislation is upheld the racing and breeding industries will see the benefits almost immediately - with increased confidence amongst particpants especially racehorse owners who effectively bankroll the industry at present. Punters are important of course - but without owners making significant investements in buying horses and paying training bills punters would not have a product to bet on. We all know current prizemoney levels are not sufficient to cover training costs for the majority of racehorses. Racing NSW have already indictated there will be significant increases in prizemoney should we win. So what happens if we lose? It's not the end of the earth and I'd predict the status quo for a few years whilst the industry tries to find new ways of generating income, such as from media rights and pooling with Asian racing jurisdications. Of course there is nothing to stop the NSW government from looking at other ways to make users of the racing product pay - such as copyright royalties from wagering operators. There are plenty of smart people with Racing NSW and in the O'Farrell Government - but it will take some time to get these new revenue streams in place. So my message is, no need to panic. Whichever way it goes, I commend Peter V'Landys from Racing NSW for taking up the fight on behalf of the industry and being so determined to enforce a simple business principal - user pays. I'm sure Phillip Esplin is looking down from above with great interest, he too was a fighter and should be commended for his contribution to protect our industry from opportunists.
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