Racing Queensland to trial live streaming of non-TAB greyhound meetings

RACING Queensland will begin a trial this week aimed at generating revenue from the non-TAB race meetings run in the state.

The greyhound meeting at Capalaba on Saturday will be live-streamed via Ustream. Picture: Marc Robertson

RACING Queensland will begin a trial this week aimed at generating revenue from the non-TAB race meetings run in the state.

The Capalaba greyhound meeting will be live-streamed via Ustream on Saturday.

The streaming will be done in conjunction with wagering partner UBET offering a fixed price betting service on the meeting. UBET began the trial last month.

The service will be trialled at first on greyhound meetings, starting with Saturday’s Capalaba Young Guns Final, with results monitored to see if it could also work with the two horse codes.

Queensland conducts more non-TAB race meetings than any other state, and acting RQ chief executive Sam Adams said the industry needed to look at ways of earning a return from those meetings.

“This is about exploring revenue opportunities that don’t currently exist,” he said.

Adams said greyhound racing was the best starting point to trial the product as it was the most cost-effective of the three codes.

“If the long-term obligation is to maintain these meetings, it is preferable to do it in a way that is more engaging and pushes the content to a greater customer base,” he said.

If the trial with greyhounds proves successful, the plan is to have some non-TAB thoroughbred meetings added to the streaming program within six to 12 months.

“We need to work through the practicalities and get the logistics right, but if the viewership and wagering say it’s sustainable, the plan is to roll it out across all three codes.”

In the initial stages, RQ is proposing back-to-back Saturday morning streaming of two greyhound meetings.

The live streaming technology has been trialled at Cairns greyhounds for a number of months with the successful results leading to the infrastructure being put in place at Capalaba.

Originally published as Racing Queensland to trial live streaming of non-TAB greyhound meetings