TAB New Zealand (TAB NZ) provides the sixth monthly trading update for the 2022/2023 financial year, with the results and highlights for January 2023.
TAB NZ operated through its online and retail channels throughout January. Turnover was up on budget, driven by strong returns from sports betting and domestic racing. Gross betting revenue (GBR) was slightly up on budget, and the gross betting margin (GBM) was in line with budget.
Following on from December, overall field sizes across all three codes in January were again either up on, or on par with, the year-to-date average. Test cricket proved an attraction for sports customers, with the 2nd test between Pakistan and New Zealand, as well as the 3rd test between Australia and South Africa, topping the list of sports events by turnover for January.
Operating expenses were above budget due to an increase in technology spend, strengthening the Elite customer proposition and expenses associated with the final phase of identifying an international wagering operator as a potential strategic partner to support materially boosting the fortunes of racing and sport as well as enhancing the customer experience.
The investments in repositioning the business continue to deliver positive results, with January marking a milestone for TAB NZ, with a record 250,000 customers placing a bet through digital channels in the past 12 months. Average weekly customer numbers also climbed to an average of 78,000 since August, up from 70,000 for the same period in the previous year. TAB NZ has also won back a number of high value customers from offshore competitors, which has helped to strengthen turnover. Alongside these gains customer satisfaction continues to improve.
Wagering Performance Summary
In January, the fifth month of the 2022/23 financial year, turnover of $230.1m was 0.9% ($2.0m) above budget. GBR of $36.8m was above budget by 0.9% ($0.3m) and GBM of 16.0% was in line with budget.
Racing
Average NZ thoroughbred starters per race was 10.9, above the YTD average of 10.6, while the peak meeting turnover of $6.6m was on 21 January for the Karaka Million at Pukekohe. Harness average starters per race was 10.3, above the YTD average of 10.1, while the peak meeting turnover of $1.4m was on 6 January at Cromwell. For greyhound racing, the average starters per race was 7.4, matching the YTD average, while the peak turnover for a domestic meeting was $369k on 5 January at Cambridge.
Sport
The top sporting event by turnover for January was the second test between Pakistan and the Black Caps with turnover of $0.7m. Basketball was the leading in-play sporting code accounting for 36% of in-play turnover and also topped pre-match singles with 31% of pre-match turnover.
January Operational Performance
- Reported Profit for the month was $14.6m, which was $0.3m above Budget.
- Operating Expenses were $11.2m for the month, which was $0.8m above Budget.
- Year to Date Reported Profit is $76.2m, which is $9.4m below Budget.
- Year to Date Operating Expenses were $64.9m, which is $3.3m above Budget.
January Distributions
Racing Codes were paid $13.4m in distributions and other payments for January, versus $15.8m budgeted. This consisted of TAB NZ Betting Profit (listed as Fixed Distribution in the table below), offshore bookmaker commission fees, which are based on actual turnover (termed Betting Information Use Charges (BIUC) in the table below), and Betting Duty/Levy repeal.
Top 10 Racing events by turnover
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Top 10 Sporting events by turnover
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