Proposed withdrawl of betting operators likely to be slowed by early return of crowds

Te Rapa is set for huge trials programme today as gallops racing gets close to a return but the nearby Cambridge harness club faces a different challenge this Thursday. PICTURE/ RACE IMAGES

The return of crowds to New Zealand horse racing has left the industry with a shock problem: how do many of them get a bet on?

Like every other sport in the country horse and dog racing can return to normal from tomorrow, with the first real crowd expected the Cambridge harness meeting on Thursday night.

But club boss David Branch is in the dark as to how many of them will be able to place a bet.

The TAB, presently known as the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA), has decided to phase out the human betting operators for almost all race meetings apart from elite carnival days as a cost cutting measure.

They will eventually all be replaced by the self service electronic betting machines, which work much like cashflow machines at a bank, while many punters will choose to bet via the TAB app on their phones.

But when that was announced a TAB spokesman told the Herald, "we don't expect crowds on track to be a factor until August no we have time to implement all this."

That has now become a problem for Thursday with Branch expecting at least 700 customers on track as owners and punters alike return take their first opportunity to enjoy live racing and he couldn't get clarity yesterday on whether he will have tote operators.

"We have one tote in the Clubhouse Cafe and Bar on track and two pods (self service machines) on track but nobody seemed to know today whether we could get tote staff on track," said Branch.

"We pay them ourselves and the machines are already here so I really can't see a reason we can't do it but nobody has told me yet. I rang and they didn't know."

The Herald understands the quicker than expected return to crowds at tracks will see RITA discusses a slower phasing out of tote operators to allow meetings in the next few months to provide the traditional betting methods.

"I sure hope so because we will have a lot of punters here who have never used a betting machine before. So hopefully it gets sorted," said Branch.

The Waikato will be the hub of northern racing's return this week as Te Rapa will host a remarkable 33 heats at their thoroughbred trials today, raising the likelihood of plentiful nominations for that code's return to racing at Pukekohe on Saturday week.

"And we are expecting a few people along to see their horses trials too, which will be great," said Waikato Racing Club chief executive Andrew Castles.