TAB New Zealand Update on Trading Performance – October 2020

Wagering Performance Summary

Consistent with the performance for the first two months of the quarter, October’s key results for TAB NZ’s were ahead of budget and ahead of last year. Domestic and overseas racing both continued to perform above expectation. Sport also performed strongly with the All Blacks first international appearance since the Rugby World Cup and the NRL grand final notable highlights. 

Racing 

Domestic starter and field size numbers were, once again, particularly strong for both equine codes. In comparison with October of last year, the supply of domestic Thoroughbred and Harness product was up 26 percent and 25 percent respectively. This contributed to an increase in turnover for all domestic racing by 17.8 percent however this was assisted with five Saturdays falling in 2020 as compared to four Saturdays in October 2019.

Turnover on Overseas Racing also continues to perform above expectation with the Victoria Derby, Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup each generating $200-$300k more in turnover than the 2019 editions of these races. 

Sport

The All Blacks first two matches generated turnover of $1.1m each and game three generated $980k. This is inline with the expected turnover for a Bledisloe All Blacks match. 

The NRL grand final between the Panthers and the Storm had the highest turnover of any grand final from the last five years by $250k. 

October Operational Performance Highlights

• Net Profit for the month was $15.8m, which was $4.4m above budget and $3m above last year. This was made up of; Betting Reported Profit $14.7m (+$4.4m v budget), Gaming Reported Profit of +$1.7m ( in line vs Budget) and RIU Reported Profit of -$0.6m (in line vs Budget).
• Operating Expenses were $9.7m for the month which was $0.2m below budget (-2.4 percent) and $2.4m below last year (-19.8 percent).
• Year To Date Reported Profit is $11.4m above budget and $9.9m above last year. 

———————

October Distributions

Racing Codes were paid $12m in actual distributions for October versus $11.6m 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 received during the month (termed Betting Information User Charge (BIUC) in the table below), and Betting Levy repeal.

———————

October Wagering Performance Highlights 

• Turnover of $233.8m was $41.8m above budget and $17.0m above last year.  
• Strong performance was driven by all products with sport +$9m against budget, international racing +$17m against budget and domestic racing +$13m against budget.
• Gross Betting Revenue of $37.7m was $7.7m above budget and $2.3m above last year.
• Domestic racing accounted for $79m in turnover, with overseas racing making up $95m of the month’s total turnover and sport delivering $63m in turnover.

Top 10 Sporting events by turnover

Top 10 Racing events by turnover