October
NovemberIt's a fix
The well known saying that "the law is an ass" is fully vindicated by the recent favourable outcome for Racing NSW.
Firstly Tabcorp, Betfair and bookies do not have any money to contribute to racing. Collectively, they are commission agents handling the cash of us punters — it’s all our money, which with a bit of sponsorship is the only money sourced by racing. Owners’ nomination fees are meant to cover costs, not inflate prizemoney.
The Productivity Commission has rightly indicated, based on the Trades Practices Act, that punters (customers) are not to be shafted by merchants, shopkeekers, utilities or sporting bodies, racing included!
To allow racing to set an arbitrary price (turnover tax) forces low-margin (most competitive) operators to increase prices, which in racing means lower dividends for customers.
This is retail price maintenance (RPM), a practice outlawed in Australia 60 years ago. So on what basis of precedence can the Federal Court now attempt to reintroduce RPM, thereby penalising everybody in this great country, where we are all encouraged to deliver the best product to each other at the most competitive price?
Racing NSW’s claim that prizemoney needs to be increased, along with strappers’ and others’ wages, is insulting to us punters. There is already plenty in prizemoney to redistribute to the "underpaid" in racing.
Could we ever imagine Coles and Woolworths placing advertisements in newspapers informing us (their customers) that they would be increasing prices by 15 percent so their directors could receive more of the pie?
It sounds like Betfair and the corporates have failed to present their case convincingly so that the judges could see clearly that all such arguments are to be resolved fully in favour of racing’s customers instead of feathering the nest of racing’s hierarchy.
The Federal Court’s decision was plainly wrong and must be appealed so we punters can continue to receive the best available prices. To hell with RPM in racing.
Bendigo (Vic)