TAB NZ Trading Performance Update - October 2022

8 December 2022

TAB New Zealand (TAB NZ) provides the third monthly trading update for the 2022/2023 financial year, with the results and highlights for October 2022.

The TAB operated through its online and retail channels throughout October, with no Covid-19 restrictions in retail and hospitality throughout the month. Turnover was up slightly on budget in October. Gross betting revenue (GBR) and gross betting margin (GBM) were below budget. Retail traffic continued to hold strong following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, and overall field sizes across all three codes were up on the year-to-date average, but other factors - including race abandonments, intense competitive pressure from unregulated online offshore operators and lower average bet size in key customer segments as economic conditions tighten - contributed to a mixed result.

Because of the above factors and the continued economic challenges that are forecast to continue for some time, the TAB NZ Board has signalled to the racing codes that it will reduce distributions by nine percent in the 2022/23 financial year (year ended 31 July 2023). Factoring in other distributions derived through New Zealand racing, overall distributions will be around $160m for this financial year.

Wagering Performance Summary

In October, the third month of the 2022/23 financial year, turnover of $239.4m was 2.7% ($6.2m) above budget. GBR of $36.4m was down on budget by 3.9% ($1.5m) and GBM of 15.2% was 1.0 percentage point below budget.

Racing

Average NZ thoroughbred starters per race was 10.6, above the YTD average of 10.3, while the peak turnover for a domestic meeting was $4.0m on 15 October at Hastings for the Livamol Classic. Harness average starters per race was 10.6, above the YTD average of 9.9, while the peak meeting turnover of $1.7m was on 24 October at Ashburton. For greyhound racing, the average starters per race was 7.3, matching the YTD average, while the peak turnover for a domestic meeting was $466k on 13 October at Addington.

Sport

The top sporting event by turnover for October was the NRL final between Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels with turnover of $1.49m. Basketball was the leading in-play sporting code accounting for 30% of in-play turnover while football (19%), rugby union (16%) and basketball (16%) were the top pre-match singles sporting codes by turnover.

October Operational Performance

  • Reported Profit for the month was $12.0m, which was $3.1m below Budget.
  • Operating Expenses were $11.1m for the month, which was $1.1m above Budget.
  • Year to Date Reported Profit is $33.6m, which was $5.6m below Budget
  • Year to Date Operating Expenses were $32.1m, which was $1.6m above budget.

October Distributions

Racing Codes were paid $16.7m in distributions and other payments for October, versus $16.4m 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

Date

Venue

Race No.

Race description

Turnover

15-Oct

Caulfield

R9

Carlton Draught Caulfield Cup (G1)

$833K

15-Oct

Randwick

R7

The TAB Everest

$826K

22-Oct

International

R9

The Cox Plate (G1)

$780K

15-Oct

Hastings

R8

Livamol Classic (G1)

$733K

22-Oct

Riccarton Park

R8

War Decree Stakes (G3)

$726K

29-Oct

Flemington

R8

TAB Empire Rose Stakes (G1)

$572K

29-Oct

Flemington

R7

Penfolds Victoria Derby (G1)

$566K

29-Oct

Flemington

R6

Coolmore Stud Stakes (G1)

$548K

8-Oct

Matamata

R9

Arrowfield Stud Plate (G1)

$533K

15-Oct

Hastings

R7

Dan Desposito Memorial Premier

$455K

 

Top 10 Sporting Events by turnover

Date

Comp/Code

Event

Turnover

2-Oct

Rugby League

Penrith Panthers v Parramatta Eels

$1.5M

29-Oct

Rugby Union

Japan v New Zealand

$0.6M

22-Oct

Rugby Union

Canterbury v Wellington

$0.4M

29-Oct

Cricket

New Zealand v Sri Lanka

$375K

15-Oct

Rugby Union

Canterbury v Bay Of Plenty

$353K

22-Oct

Cricket

Australia v New Zealand

$343K

23-Oct

Cricket

India v Pakistan

$308K

27-Oct

Cricket

India v Netherlands

$301K

14-Oct

Rugby Union

Wellington v Auckland

$301K

9-Oct

Motorsport

Bathurst 1000

$294K