Vanuatu one day Darwin the next

[woopin]

I note that the Number One Betting shop originally run by Alan Tripp is moving from Port Vila to Darwin.Amazing what an introduced Govt. tax can do-they had been paying bugger all tax to the Van govt until a few months ago when someone obviously realised how big an operation the betting was and increased the tax ( and surveillance of compliance ).Apparently Corporate Bookmakers in Darwin pay a turnover tax of 1% and Number One claim $600 million aus. turnover a year,the tax is shortly to be reduced further which will certainly cause a few TAB exec's some anguish.The operation is to employ 40 staff and the English consortium that has taken over from Tripp is rumoured to have employed Michael Sullivan who is at present on the rails in Sydney to run the business for (again rumored,$10,000 a week).As an aside to this a friend reports 9 bookmakers working the Sydney ring.I don't know if this is true or was just at a weak meeting but it looks like the days of big betting rings might be gone.
P.S. How do you reckon Read will handle the competition -- Number One does actually allow people to have a bet. ;) ;)

[rubbintug]

seems like the rooster is about to bend over and pluck the hen...

[pumper]

yeah!

[hobbes]

Northern Territory Slashes Turnover Tax
By Chris Scholtz
Thursday, 21 February 2002: Australia's betting industry is set for a major upheaval following radical moves by the Northern Territory Government designed to make Darwin the gambling mecca of the nation. The NT Government has passed legislation reducing bookmakers turnover from
1.5 percent to only 0.33 percent, the lowest in Australia.
At the same time it has sanctioned the issuing of a bookmaking license to Vanuatu's "Number One" bookmaking operation, the organisation that is estimated to be raking more than $300 million per year in turnover from Australian punters.
With the Northern Territory also offering a minimum telephone bet with bookmakers of only $50, other State Governments' will now have no alternative but to match the incentives on offer to bookmakers in Darwin and Alice Springs or face another massive leakage of betting turnover.
It is logical that unless the NSW Government cuts the current tax on bookmakers turnover from 2 percent by at least half, more Sydney fielders will either retire or move interstate to enjoy the same tax relief and advantages as their counterparts in the Northern Territory and Canberra.
They may even look to Melbourne, which also has a lower tax rate than NSW and is progressively reducing the minimum telephone bet to nil over the next three years.
With the huge growth in telephone and internet betting, it is no longer a requisite for a bookmaker to operate on a Sydney racecourse to attract massive turnover, as the operators in Vanuatu, Darwin, Alice Springs and Canberra have already shown.
Leading Sydney bookmakers Con Kafataris (Canberra) and Michael Sullivan
(Darwin) have already relocated due to the better deal they get from the local Governments.
Sullivan is a partner in the new Darwin venture and is expected to manage the operation.
The NT Government agreed to a betting license for Vanuatu's Number One betting shop as it is now controlled by one of the UK's biggest internet bookmaking firms.
It is envisaged that the new Darwin operation, with its licence to legally accept bets from punters all over Australia, will attract annual betting turnover of more than $500 million.
The NSW Government and TAB Limited have run a long but fruitless campaign trying to stop the leakage of turnover to Vanuatu-based operators, advertising that it was illegal for Australian punters to bet with offshore bookmakers.
They lost that battle as the campaign was ineffective and convictions were a rarity.
Now it seems those "illegal" offshore operators, cleared to set up shop in Australia with the NT Government in their corner, are well on their way to winning the war!

[hobbes]

WINNERS & LOSERS by Max Presnell 25/02/02
Racing now is "going down the chute", according to Mark Read, arguably one of the finest students of the industry and head of the leading bookmaking operation in the Northern Territory.
But it is not beyond redemption.
Read left the eastern seaboard in 1995 not as a tax dodge but to "grow his business" into global bookmaking.
Both subjects are very much to the fore with the recent establishment in Darwin of Sportingbet Australia, a British company about which Read has little respect.
"They have grown their business by acquisition," Read said in an interview on radio 2SM last Saturday morning.
"They have bought major businesses in the Caribbean, they have now bought Vanuatu business once owned by Alan Tripp."
Read, pleased the Vanuatu business is "back onshore", declares the company he heads, IAS Bet, was the biggest racing bookmaker in Australia before the Vanuatu operation arrived.
"Our annual turnover is in the order of $120 million on racing codes," he said. "From the point of view of giving back, in our case we bet last year $65 million back through the TAB and bookmakers in other states. I would love to be able to run my seven-day-a-week international business out of Victoria or NSW.
"I'm not in the Territory for any reason other than I have no other option. Until the latest reduction [in turnover tax, to 0.33 per cent] brought in to accommodate Sportingbet, I was paying the second highest tax, with the highest jurisdiction being in NSW.
"NSW bookmakers [2 per cent turnover tax] are getting ripped out by the tax regime.
"Our business generates $2.5million to the Northern Territory. I've been to the ministers in every state to say now is the time to deregulate, to get the quality bookmakers into place, to grow the business and educate the market and grow the great sport racing is."
On the local front, Richard Face, the Minister for Racing, is tipped to announce at the Wellington Boot meeting today that NSW turnover tax will be halved.
And also mail comes from the Northern Territory that a bet of an even $300,000 was laid by Sportingbet about Bel Esprit in the Blue Diamond at Caulfield, which will bring in tax that a week ago wouldn't have been there.
=================================================
doesn't A$120m seem pathetically small ?? and then he bets back $65m into the TAB's. is he a bookmaker or a wimp ??
of course one cannot trust that either figure is accurate but still ... ?

[imaufo]

The NSW Government today abolished its 1% turnover tax for bookmakers, which will be incorporated into the State Budget in April.
This will save the 310 NSW registered bookmakers $2.3 million per year.
Bookmakers are still required to pay 1% turnover tax to race clubs.
Racing Minister Richard Face said bookmakers were an important part of NSW racing and that bookmakers were deserving of the tax break to make them competitive with Victoria and Queensland.
Last week, the NT Government reduced its turnover tax from 1% to 0.3% to entice $500 million a year oofshore operation Sportingbet Australia to Darwin.
By: glenn robbins - Monday, 25 February 2002

[Steppin Short]

The government can reduce the turnover tax to 0% BUT unfortunately the time of the bookmaker is limited.
Now they are just punters, hoping that the horse they have not layed, wins. They can no longer make a book, there is no mug money anymore, punters are too well informed, and exes are to high for a bookmaker to make a decent living.
Enjoy them while they are there, remember them for what they once were, so you can answer your grandchildren when they ask, "what was a bookmaker?".

[imaufo]

I do remember a quote from the Don Scott book when he mentions the demise of bookmakers...and he mentions that when the bookies do eventually go, " value will rise phoenix like from the ashes'.
I do have a bet with a bookie if he is offerring some value on a horse I like but they are pretty tight these days and how often do you have a bet with them to find out that you have made the wrong play when the horse wins and the price has drifted out on the tote in the final minutes of betting?
Also with the popularity of quinellas and trifectas on the totes, the bookies are limited as to what part they can play.
USA and Hong Kong sem to do alright without them so unless the bookies start to offer some real value for players then i wont be missing them too much if they do dissapear.
[ February 26, 2002: Message edited by: imaufo ]

[hobbes]

Bookies strike at Ascot
By Robert Edwards
BOOKMAKERS will be on strike at Ascot on Saturday, leaving punters with only the tote for betting.
WA Bookmakers Association president Manuel Kalaf said the decision by the 16 remaining metropolitan bookmakers to ban the meeting was unanimous.
Kalaf said bookmakers were reluctant to strike but were left with no alternative after rejecting a compromise offer from the WA Turf Club committee to reduce standing fees.
"Other States realise crowds are dropping off and are trying to arrest the drift by helping bookmakers," Kalaf said. "Punters come to the races to bet with us.
"Big punters can bet on credit, something they can't do with the tote.
"We just want to be given a level playing field to compete with interstate bookies.
"If we were to accept the turf club's offer, we would be $100 a week worse off.
"We can't afford to keep going. We know everybody is going to suffer from Saturday.
"But we are locked into a corner and have to take action or go out of business.
"How can we compete with interstate bookmakers who are thousands of dollars a week better off because they don't have to pay fees?"
Kalaf said Saturday's ban would be total and bookmakers would not be fielding at other racing venues, Gloucester Park or Cannington Raceway.
He said bookmakers had not decided to extend their strike beyond Saturday and were open to further talks with the WATC.
It is the first time they have taken such dramatic action in almost 18 years.
The last time they went on strike, the sole bookmaker to defy the action was John Squarcini, who stood at Ascot.
Kalaf said he was certain there would be no breaking of ranks this time. Bookmakers are demanding the WATC abolish standing fees and rebate to them the 2 per cent turnover tax they pay on bets. All betting tax from on-course turnover is rebated by the State Government back to the club.
WATC chairman Ted van Heemst yesterday called an emergency meeting of delegates from the WA Thoroughbred Racing Industry Council to inform them about the issue.
Van Heemst said he was extremely disappointed by the bookmakers"decision.
He said the club had offered to phase out stand fees over the next three years. It could not afford to eliminate the 2 per cent turnover tax unless the State Government compensated it for the loss of income. Otherwise prizemoney would have to be cut to make up for the loss.
"We haven't taken this lightly," Van Heemst said. "Bookmakers are an integral part of the industry.
"We offered them a package to manage this thing in a sensible way so it wouldn't impact adversely on the rest of the stakeholders."
The club's short-term offer was to reduce standing fees by 20 per cent until the end of the racing season on July 31 and over the next three years to phase them out totally and avoid any reductions to stake levels.
"Our income from bookmakers for this year will be about $450,000 and if you divide that over three years it is pretty substantial," Van Heemst said. "Since 1997-98 we have reduced their fees by 38 per cent. Our income from betting taxes over the same period has been reduced by about $1 million."
April 24, 2002