Prizemoney cuts are ruled out in Racing Queensland fightback

RACING Minister Grace Grace has ruled out further cuts to prizemoney, despite Racing Queensland tabling a $19.9 million operating loss for the 2015-16 financial year.

Under The Louvre (right) battles out the Stradbroke Handicap with Black Heart Bart. Picture: Jono Searle

RACING Minister Grace Grace has ruled out further cuts to prizemoney, despite Racing Queensland tabling a $19.9 million operating loss for the 2015-16 financial year on Friday.

This represents an $8.7 million increase in the operating loss from the previous financial year.

It is short of the originally predicted $28 million loss and the figure was swollen to the tune of $4 million by a backdated superannuation fee to jockeys which is in dispute.

RQ has lodged an objection against default assessments relating to jockeys’ superannuation.

The $4 million included in the 2015-16 expenses has not been paid and may not need to be, pending the outcome of the objection.

Minister Grace said she believes the new board has the capacity to find new revenue streams, rather than stripping back prizemoney any further than those proposed in last year’s Tracking To Sustainability document.

Under The Louvre and jockey Dwayne Dunn after taking out Queensland’s biggest race. Picture: Jono Searle

“You can’t cut prizemoney too much because it then becomes very uncompetitive when you compare us to other states,” Grace said.

“I think we’ve done what we’ve needed to do. Clearly we need to look at what are all the options to make this industry sustainable.

“That is better utilisation of our resources, such as the real estate we have and Racing Queensland has the ability to now concentrate on the commercial aspects of racing.

“You have to take some tough decisions up front and then give the board the opportunity to concentrate on working with the industry in bringing it to viability.”

The report includes a case for greyhound participants to seek more funding, as the code-by-code breakdown showed it returning a profit of $876,000 before depreciation.

A big crowd attends Queensland’s premier race meeting, Stradbroke Handicap Day. Picture: Jono Searle

Gallops lost $11.2 million, which includes the $4 million disputed jockey fee and harness lost $7.4 million, or 34 per cent of its revenue.

RQ reported cash reserves of more than $16 million at the end of last financial year after the government underwrote the industry to the tune of $32 million to cover the cost of the past two years of losses.

It’s not clear when — or if — that money will be paid back to government.

“If RQ would turn a profit there would be an assumption that would be returned back to the coffers of government (but) clearly it isn’t one the government believes they will be able to call on for quite some time,” Grace said.

Overall wagering revenue grew by less than $1 million in 2015-16, to $203.3 million. This included a $5 million increase in race information fees from interstate TAB operators and corporate bookmakers to $59 million. UBET’s product fee fell by $2.4 million to $129.8 million, with its race information fee deduction growing by just over $1 million to $36.2 million.

Analysts hope the return of Eagle Farm will negate the severity of this deduction in future years.

Originally published as Prizemoney cuts are ruled out in Racing Queensland fightback