We're Doomed 4,824 Report post Posted March 25, 2019 I have been wondering about this massive problem the industry has and how it has all come about. For some strange reason I had a look at the NZRB website recently. It occurred to me that the whole website is virtually about the TAB, rather than any form of governance or leadership for the industry as a whole. In my early days in Racing the industry was run by the Racing Authority, whose primary responsibility was to make sure Gallops, Trots and Dogs all played politely together and were efficiently managed so that they combined to form a coherent racing and gaming industry. The TAB was purely a service organisation that managed betting operations. They had no role in the running of the industry. The people on the Racing Authority were all Racing people, who all raced horses and had a stake in the industry and often successful careers outside the industry. We now seem to have the situation where the Racing Board is primarily running the TAB and the actual Racing industry is purely incidental. I think this is why the powers that be think they can appoint people to the Board that have no racing knowledge. They think they are just running the TAB and the main skills they need are to spend $79m wisely on new computer systems. I think this explains why the basics such as handicapping systems in both horse codes, dates and programmes have been neglected, and facilities have been left to deteriorate on most courses. One of the first things that is needed to try and stop the slide is to have an organisation solely in charge of the three codes and to have the TAB as a separate entity out to the side purely running betting services for the good of the industry and not interfering in things they don't understand. The TAB could be run by all the exiled civil servants, and an actual Racing Board could be run by Racing people. So it may be that the slide started when the Racing Authority, or whatever it was called at the time, and the TAB were merged. Perhaps they should be split again. They don't seem to have achieved much as a merged entity. Charlie Bukowski and Baz (NZ) 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdytdy 5,335 Report post Posted March 25, 2019 That was the purpose of the TAB when it was set up in 1951, a system for wagering not governance. Now the tail wags the dog. Charlie Bukowski, We're Doomed and Baz (NZ) 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...