HARNESS RACING VICTORIA LOSES COURT BATTLE

By Matt Nicholls

30/08/2012

melbourneracing@gmail.com

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HARNESS Racing Victoria has been dealt a blow, with the Federal Court ruling in favour of betting agency Sportsbet regarding race field fees and turnover-based fees.

This statement, written by HRV chief executive John Anderson, was posted on harness.org.au yesterday ...

Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) defended an action brought against it by Sportsbet Pty Ltd (Sportsbet) in the Federal Court of Australia.  The case ran over two weeks (in March and August 2011).

Sportsbet challenged the Victorian legislation under which HRV charges a race field fee.  Sportsbet also challenged HRV’s ability to charge a fee based on turnover.

HRV charges approved Wagering Service Providers (WSP’s) a race field fee of 1.5% for the use of HRV race fields for wagering purposes.

Sportsbet’s fundamental argument was that the fee is discriminatory, not least because Tabcorp (who pays substantial amounts in excess of the race field fee under contractual arrangements with the Victorian Racing Industry) and on course bookmakers are exempt from the legislation.

Justice Mansfield has now handed down his decision.

In his judgment, Justice Mansfield found that:

1.    The Victorian race fields legislation is valid;

2.    WSP’s, who make a profit from wagering on Victorian harness racing, are obliged to make a payment, providing the fee is valid;

3.    This means that WSP’s such as Sportsbet must pay a fee;

4.    A fee levied on WSP’s based on turnover is valid;

5.    HRV’s entire 1.5% of turnover race field fee imposed on Sportsbet was impermissible due to a 0.5% of turnover subsidy it pays to on course bookmakers for offering a bookmaking service to patrons at Victorian harness racing meetings.

For information, HRV charges on course bookmakers an aggregate 1.5% turnover fee, however the 0.5% turnover subsidy is paid to bookmakers who attend tracks around the State.  For the year 2011/12, the subsidy amounted to $12,600 in total.

Although Justice Mansfield found that on course bookmakers’ attendance at Victorian harness racing meetings provided a benefit to HRV, he found that there was insufficient evidence to justify the amount of that benefit.

As a result, Justice Mansfield found that the practical effect of applying this subsidy meant that Sportsbet had been discriminated against and the 1.5% Turnover Condition was an additional burden on Sportsbet, when compared to on course bookmakers, and concluded that the whole race field fee was invalid.

The HRV Board at its meeting this week will consider the judgment and take advice on appealing the decision.  Until that has been determined, I am unable to quantify the financial impact on HRV.

In the interim, HRV will take on board the findings contained in the judgment and immediately remove the 0.5% subsidy to on course bookmakers, so as to ensure that Sportsbet and all other WSP’s make an equal contribution to HRV.

There's no point talking about last Friday night's Melton meeting, other than to say it was a shocker for most punters.

The Harness Punter was one of many shaking their heads at some of the results that were thrown up.

Although it was a "negative" from a punting point of view, it was was certainly great to see Make Mine Cullen outlast Smoken Up in what was the mighty mare's last race.

Smoken Up was regarded as a good thing by many, including Melbourne Racing's harness racing tipster, but couldn't fend off Make Mine Cullen, who used the sprint lane after a top drive from Daryl Douglas.

Despite last Friday's bad luck, there's another big card at Melton tomorrow night, with 12 races scheduled, starting at 5.08pm and finishing at 10.42.

The Harness Punter's best bet is Freemason in race nine .

"He is an ex-Kiwi who drops markedly in grade here," the tipster said.

"He has the gate speed to utilise his good gate here and, from the front, he should really beat these."

Make Mine Cullen graced the Melton track for the final time last Friday night and went out on a high, beating Smoken Up in a thrilling FFA race.

Using the spring lane, Daryl Douglas got the mighty mare up in the last stride, winning in a mile rate of 1:57.6 over the 2240-metre trip.

The Glenn Douglas-trained mare finished her career with a winning strike rate of 50 per cent, after winning 40 of her 80 races. She also placed 15 times.

The daughter of Christian Cullen also won more than $870,000 for connections and is now heading for the breeding barn.