RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.
scooby3051

DEAN MCKENZIE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FROM RACECAFE

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Dean,

The TAB is currently marketing to ‘bring lost customers’ back to the organisation. The many that bet thru overseas agencies will do so for a myriad of reasons,, one of which will be restrictions placed on (or closing of?) their NZ TAB accounts.

Can you please describe both the reason and criteria for placing restrictions on NZ customers. Seems to my eye that this aspect needs resolved if you want to win back many disaffected punters.

Thanks Wayne

 

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two questions....

There's $45m in an unsecured revolving credit facility coming up for renegotiation by 31 August this year. With low interest rates the ability to service this debt is not in question.

1.What are the thoughts of the TAB as to how, and when, this debt will be repaid?

This year's code distributions have been pegged with the proviso that these distributions will be subject to a quarterly assessment based on the TAB's actual performance. Q1 performance was well ahead of plan and Q2 is also tracking favorably.

2.When, as in an actual date, was the TAB's code distribution for the quarter ending October 2020 formally confirmed to each of the codes?

 

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Hi again

 

To avoid the $2.50 deposit charge (I con't stomach this)!!  I go via the bank internet deposit route as I told that is free.  My deposit was done at 9pm and arrived in my account by 9am the next day.  Do you Dean think this is acceptable, or competive?  Please bet with NZ TAB, but we will charge you for losing money unlike the offshore ones.  Thanks

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On 1/11/2021 at 9:27 PM, Southland said:

Dean,

The TAB is currently marketing to ‘bring lost customers’ back to the organisation. The many that bet thru overseas agencies will do so for a myriad of reasons,, one of which will be restrictions placed on (or closing of?) their NZ TAB accounts.

Can you please describe both the reason and criteria for placing restrictions on NZ customers. Seems to my eye that this aspect needs resolved if you want to win back many disaffected punters.

Thanks Wayne

 

Closing of accounts,really?

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Here you go everyone Replies to Racecafe questions February 2021 

Questions are:

  1. Does he believe the TAB website/app has performance issues? and it is operating at the level they would expect after 2 plus years at a cost of over $80M?

    Of course there are always opportunities to improve the platform but fundamentally, performance and stability has improved significantly since going live two years ago.

    We are continuing to focus on improving our customers’ experience, including launching new products (such as Fixed Odds Exotics which is coming soon) with the goal of providing customers with a world class betting experience.

    As with any website and technology application (the cost of which was substantially less than $80m quoted in the questions), we can expect issues from time to time. However, we are confident in the performance and stability of the underlying Fixed Odds Betting platform, which was evidenced by record use on our website for the past two Melbourne Cups when it was put under immense pressure yet managed to handle in excess of 40,000 concurrent users and well over 100 bets per second.

  2. Does he believe the Gov can legislate to have NZ'ers bet only with NZ TAB, yet have foreigners bet with the NZ TAB? Are the double standards here?

    Every year +$130M is deposited by Kiwis with offshore bookmakers, delivering limited benefit back to the NZ racing industry. We are working hard to regain customers who have opted to bet offshore and we are seeing increasing numbers of them returning to the TAB by providing customers with options and offers that rival the big corporations overseas.

    Currently there are no significant restrictions on these bookmakers in NZ and we’d like the Government to explore similar interventions that exist in Australia with the blocking of

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in their Online Gambling Review.

Our clear, legislated, objectives are to maximise profits for racing and returns for sport. The reality is that every dollar deposited overseas is potentially lost income for both sectors in New Zealand.

  1. Why can horse owners race their horses in OZ but punters could not bet in OZ?

    The Australian Government's Interactive Gambling Amendment Act stops people in Australia betting with overseas bookmakers who don't have a licence in Australia and that includes the TAB.

    We have strongly advocated to both Australian and New Zealand governments to allow Kiwis to bet in Australia with the TAB, however, there’s currently no sign of that happening, at least in the short term.

    The NZ Government have started looking at the issue of online gambling, and we expect this issue will feature in their work.

  2. Have we a timeframe to see increased dividends to NZTR and therefore increased prize money?

    The distributions to the Codes by the TAB were set back in July and based on the forecasts at that time and reflective of the massive impact of Covid-19 on our industry. At this time we determined we’d pay the codes once profit has been generated and we would adjust dividends during the year. Pleasingly, both the Betting Information Use Charge and repeal of the Betting Levy have delivered greater returns than anticipated and these have been passed directly on to the Codes.

    The level of distributions are reviewed quarterly and will be next looked at this month (i.e. half way through the year) and will take account of the actual performance over the period.

blob:https://www.racecafe.co.nz/c7d1c4f5-95ed-4ef0-829d-3387f5c75b93

The TAB’s job is to maximise profit for racing and that’s what we are focused on doing. The timeframe for the distribution of these profits from the Codes is not something we are involved in. Nonetheless, we are working in extraordinarily uncertain times which can change in the blinking of an eye, so naturally the Board are committed to operating in a sustainable and financially prudent manner.

  1. What is the turnover on the low class racing from South America etc?

    Presenting customers with live racing throughout the day and night means that we show racing from jurisdictions that many of our customers may be unfamiliar with, such as South America.

    There is genuine interest in the product, which is also offered by all our competitors, so to remain competitive we need to have a similar range of events and products available where possible.

    We’re projecting approximately $90M turnover on overseas racing (excluding Australia) and so far this year (since August 1) it is $47.6m. That’s up 13% when compared to the same period last year.

  2. Why hasn't the TAB adopted affiliate marketing? Is it a case of not knowing what it is? Or are the costs too high for the potential reward of bringing in new customers?

    We have tried affiliate marketing in numerous guises but with limited or no success. It is not something we plan on putting any significant investment into, but instead we’ll continue to focus on offers that resonate with our customers. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback on our Bonus Bet offers and results show that to remain competitive we need to focus on this area to help grow customer numbers.

  3. A follow-up on Question 1. You ban any NZ-based site to advertise offshore bookmakers, but make no effort to get NZ-facing sites to advertise the NZ TAB. Why?

blob:https://www.racecafe.co.nz/1553bfb3-6cd6-4d4b-a551-9fb303691ed0

The TAB does not ban advertising by offshore bookmakers in NZ. Advertising overseas gambling is prohibited under section 16 of the Gambling Act 2003 and regulated by the Department of Internal Affairs. The TAB does advertise across a variety of NZ websites to NZ audiences from Facebook to media companies like Stuff to sport-specific sites.

  1. Derek Handley has resigned from the Sky board. Do you think RITA should invite him to join as chairman i.e your successor or the very least as a director?

    The process to appoint Board members is not led by TAB NZ (formerly RITA) but overseen by the Department of Internal Affairs on behalf of the Minister.

  2. With financial reporting can you ensure domestic racing figures are reported vs domestic racing figures for the same period last year for the sake of transparency on how the NZ racing industry is doing minus Australian/overseas product?

    We provide a range of reporting direct to the Codes, including domestic racing comparisons with the previous year.

    It is important to note that often these comparisons can be slightly misleading with meetings changing dates, the month falling differently (eg 5 Saturdays vs 4) and other variables that may present themselves such as cancellations or issues such as kennel cough, especially so in these Covid-times. So although useful at a holistic level, they should always be viewed with a margin of error.

  3. Is it also possible to provide a turnover figure minus the bonus bet turnover for the sake of transparency?

    Turnover is an important measure to gauge performance, however it is not the most important measure (now we operate in a predominately fixed odds market rather that a pari mutual market with standard deductions). The most important measure is Gross Betting Revenue (GBR) - ie being the Gross Profit on taking a bet and the net profit on taking the bet.

blob:https://www.racecafe.co.nz/b7097fc3-ed4c-4fbe-ad7e-05ac37a474cb

The turnover figures presented in the monthly dashboard excludes the use of Bonus Bets. We refer particularly to profit in our Trading Performance updates as a guide to our overall bottom line performance - which at the end of the day, we agree, is the most important measure.

11. Can you clarify what kind of cost/benefit analysis is conducted on what frequency for new overseas racing product and whether you are monitoring trackside viewing as well as betting activity to gauge stakeholder appeal or otherwise? Are you measuring whether new overseas racing is simply splitting existing turnover more or whether it is adding to the existing turnover?

We actively measure betting on all racing and sport and use the data to help inform our decisions.

In order to remain competitive we need to have a very similar (or hopefully better) suite of options/products that our main competitors. If we don't, we will simply lose customers - so it's not so much a question of splitting existing turnover as we effectively compete for customers 24/7 with sport and racing events continually going on around the world with other betting operators based all around the world - it's a global marketplace.

We are conscious of getting the right balance between domestic and overseas racing, both in terms of promotions and Trackside programming. Ultimately our goal is to maximise profit for racing and overseas products play an important role in achieving this.

We are currently working to secure new, more detailed data/information from Sky on viewing trends/numbers and hope that, should we be able to access this, it will provide a platform for us to more closely objectively measure viewing trends.

We also know that different customers have different views on content, so hopefully we have enough quality racing to appeal to all interests if overseas racing isn’t your cup of tea.

12. What do you see as the top 3 things the Tab does to "promote NZ racing".

blob:https://www.racecafe.co.nz/c8a78f36-f151-4b37-aaa8-b167cebb0aed

At a basic level, Trackside presents live coverage of more than 1,000 race meetings every year and extends the breadth of its coverage for many of the premier race meetings. We also actively promote racing on our digital platforms and we provide significant funding to the industry racing publication, Raceform.

It is important to note, however, that under the Racing Act 2020, the objective to promote New Zealand racing now falls under the auspices of the racing codes. Nonetheless, we know the effective promotion of NZ racing is in all our interests and we work closely with the Code to promote the sport where we can while maintaining our focus on maximising profits for reinvestment within the industry.

Our job is to maximise profit for NZ racing. Our business is approximately 1⁄3 domestic racing, 1⁄3 overseas racing and 1⁄3 sport - we need to have a strategy and balanced focus across these three sectors to achieve this goal.

  1. Clearly, despite significant investment there are still technical challenges with the new website and it is no more competitive against multiple offshore agencies than the old site was. What is done is done but what are the long term plans to attract a wider audience to use the NZ tab/get a satisfactory product for the significant annual sum being paid?

    There are still improvements and tweaks we need to make to the platform and it is an ongoing commitment to improve customer performance that is a continual work-on for us. We have, however, made real progress. The feedback we are getting from customers through our measurements of their attitudes to products and offers and the positive key metrics we live by such as customer numbers, bet count, turnover, GBR etc. all indicate this progress is real. Nonetheless, our focus remains (now the business has been stabilised) to improve customer experience further via increasing promotional activity, staying on top of tweaks that are required and adding new products.

  2. Has the tab considered asking for widespread existing customer feedback eg via survey online and or at racetracks to identify what services/experiences are valued (or not) and

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wanted (or not) that may not be available currently, to inform future planning?

Surveying our customers is something we have certainly done in a number of forms - the racing industry is good at providing feedback, whether that’s through the call centre, the retail network and our social media channels. We also have more formal research in place. And written feedback on any matter is also always encouraged and gratefully received at helpdesk@tab.co.nz. We know we can certainly improve in this area going forward though and we’ll continue to explore how best to do this.

15. Current turnover growth is very positive, however there is a widespread post lockdown boost in other areas for example in retail also. Are you confident the current growth will continue? If it doesn't or the figures become less favourable, can you guarantee you will continue to provide the racing industry with the current level of financial reports for transparency?

While the TAB is performing well at the moment, we have to be realistic that we are operating during a period of significant global uncertainty and we are cautious not to get ahead of ourselves. Any major disruption to racing or sport, either at home or overseas, would have a material impact on the business.

As well as growing revenue, our improved financial position is directly attributable to the approximate $20m in operating expenses per annum we have removed from the business, thus making it more sustainable. Getting both increased revenue and a reduction in expenditure at the same time is a recipe for success in any business, regardless of what you sell.

When we started publishing monthly trading reports from 1 August - no one knew what was going to happen then. We did so to provide up to date, transparent and valuable information to our key stakeholders to stop gossip etc, and focus on facts.

We are very mindful of this and while our monthly dashboards currently present a positive picture, we know this may not always be the case.

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blob:https://www.racecafe.co.nz/d942ba99-df73-4a80-a973-555fd353d37e

We committed mid way through 2020 to releasing monthly performance updates and we see no reason why we would move away from this.

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Thanks Leigh and Dean for this.  However once again my question is not answered.......

  1. What is the turnover on the low class racing from South America etc?

They talk about about overseas racing that includes HK, Singapore and UK.

I believe overseas punting will be heavily weighted to HK, Singapore and a little English racing.  I wanted a breakdown on what is punted on the American racing, in particular South America racing.  I cannot believe the figures on these events merit putting them on the screen.  To me some one punting on a south American race with no form probably should not be the type of punters we are trying to entice.  Whereas HK racing (world class, NZ horses and great time zone) has no form etc, this is crazy.  It is a small pool of horses to track.  

The repetative ignoring of this question I think answers my question.

 

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12 minutes ago, shaneMcAlister said:

Thanks Leigh and Dean for this.  However once again my question is not answered.......

  1. What is the turnover on the low class racing from South America etc?

They talk about about overseas racing that includes HK, Singapore and UK.

I believe overseas punting will be heavily weighted to HK, Singapore and a little English racing.  I wanted a breakdown on what is punted on the American racing, in particular South America racing.  I cannot believe the figures on these events merit putting them on the screen.  To me some one punting on a south American race with no form probably should not be the type of punters we are trying to entice.  Whereas HK racing (world class, NZ horses and great time zone) has no form etc, this is crazy.  It is a small pool of horses to track.  

The repetative ignoring of this question I think answers my question.

 

Sorry he never exactly answered your specific question but I think he did answer most things members had asked...I think it is good of him to do this JMO.

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5 hours ago, scooby3051 said:

As well as growing revenue, our improved financial position is directly attributable to the approximate $20m in operating expenses per annum we have removed from the business, thus making it more sustainable. Getting both increased revenue and a reduction in expenditure at the same time is a recipe for success in any business, regardless of what you sell.

That's what owners want to hear. Once the big stuff is sorted the small stuff sorts itself out. IMHO

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Disappointed that Dean didn't answer my two questions. I can only presume he is happy with Ellerslie running $10,000 Maiden races and that he has no ideas about looking at alternative income streams that could be channeled directly into stakes. 

 

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14 hours ago, gubellini said:

Disappointed that Dean didn't answer my two questions. I can only presume he is happy with Ellerslie running $10,000 Maiden races and that he has no ideas about looking at alternative income streams that could be channeled directly into stakes. 

 

Its possibly more disappointing that you are not aware the the structure and operational difference between  NZTAB and NZTR . The former is solely there to generate gaming income which is then distributed to the respective codes via Racing NZ board. What the codes do with it is their business . As such your questions should be addressed to BS at NZTR

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J J Flash I asked the same questions of Bernard Saundry in one of his podcasts last year. He was strongly against levies on Stallion Fees or levies on exported horses. Like everyone else he wants to raise minimum stakes but he didn't offer much hope in that area. That is why I asked the same questions of Dean. I was fortunate enough to have shares in two winners of $10,000 races last month. Each win covers 5-6 weeks of training fees. Hence my vested interest in raising minimum stakes!

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34 minutes ago, gubellini said:

J J Flash I asked the same questions of Bernard Saundry in one of his podcasts last year. He was strongly against levies on Stallion Fees or levies on exported horses. Like everyone else he wants to raise minimum stakes but he didn't offer much hope in that area. That is why I asked the same questions of Dean. I was fortunate enough to have shares in two winners of $10,000 races last month. Each win covers 5-6 weeks of training fees. Hence my vested interest in raising minimum stakes!

I think the major point here is that neither Dean nor anyone else at new NZTAB has any  say as to what the respective codes do with their funds once they are distributed. Its job is to now focus solely on revenue growth/cost containment and hence  higher profits to distribute to codes

As for NZTR  Im with you on BS , serial under performer in my book but the departure of MIA  Jackson and the unlikely event that he might get on Racing NZ board is encouraging. 

 

20 hours ago, JJ Flash said:

As well as growing revenue, our improved financial position is directly attributable to the approximate $20m in operating expenses per annum we have removed from the business, thus making it more sustainable. Getting both increased revenue and a reduction in expenditure at the same time is a recipe for success in any business, regardless of what you sell.

This gives owners some hope going forward as long as codes dont waste it on meaningless expenditure.as has been the case in the past

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Oddly my two questions were not answered both related to transparency so I will put it down to he has no clues on both situations which is a disturbing situation.

The bonus bet fiasco is a major concern as a determination as to how it occurred was promised nearly one year ago. One can only assume that it was an internal management #@%& u that is too embarrassing to report on. Personally I would blame the CFO at the time who must have been aware of the situation and if not why wasn't he? Thankfully for the benefit of the NZ Racing Industry that person  moved on about 12 months ago.

.

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6 hours ago, LightsOut said:

Oddly my two questions were not answered both related to transparency so I will put it down to he has no clues on both situations which is a disturbing situation.

The bonus bet fiasco is a major concern as a determination as to how it occurred was promised nearly one year ago. One can only assume that it was an internal management #@%& u that is too embarrassing to report on. Personally I would blame the CFO at the time who must have been aware of the situation and if not why wasn't he? Thankfully for the benefit of the NZ Racing Industry that person  moved on about 12 months ago.

.

You should know by now that the hard questions are either not answered or answered with considerable obfuscation. Not worth asking them imo. More of the same we have had for many years though possibly now worse. Transparency? I don't think so.

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On 2/6/2021 at 8:16 AM, LightsOut said:

Oddly my two questions were not answered both related to transparency so I will put it down to he has no clues on both situations which is a disturbing situation.

The bonus bet fiasco is a major concern as a determination as to how it occurred was promised nearly one year ago. One can only assume that it was an internal management #@%& u that is too embarrassing to report on. Personally I would blame the CFO at the time who must have been aware of the situation and if not why wasn't he? Thankfully for the benefit of the NZ Racing Industry that person  moved on about 12 months ago.

.

I suggest you and Leggy get  a hold of NZTAB board meetings minutes from last year. It may take an OIA request but you might find your answers

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Quote

You should know by now that the hard questions are either not answered or answered with considerable obfuscation. Not worth asking them imo. More of the same we have had for many years though possibly now worse. Transparency? I don't think so.

Your going bad when your making John Allen's performance as CEO look good. 

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31 minutes ago, LightsOut said:

Your going bad when your making John Allen's performance as CEO look good. 

A bit rough there........as Scooby mentioned earlier I think it goo of him to spend the time and answer questions put by an 'informal' social media group of nameless peoples !

What a mess and job he inherited ...basically an insolvent business operating in a very uncertain environment.

As he states his main purpose /responsibility is to maximise profits for NZ Racing and judging by the Monthly profit reports he seems to be at least improving on recent years...improving margins and reducing costs.

Kudos to the man for fronting up on here .

In the past , roadshows/presentations which these bosses put on are often quite poorly attended...Ive shown up to a few ,and the most recent one in North by Bernard Saundry was actually cancelled through lack of interest/attendees.

But we will hammer them anonymously online but not show up in person.

Like one of my Clubs I in....driven into the ground ,to the brink , by sheer gross incompetence.......oh how members moan and groan among ourselves but at Club meetings we quiet as lambs and the same folk almost reelected with standing ovation....almost !

Associated groups of owners ,trainers, punters whatever should be using their collective nous to get answers, push for changes etc but thats right...no one can agree on plans or solutions.....call in someone like Messara......independent......we agree with a lot of his stuff but not if it affects our little interest groups/personal interest.

To suumarise......very unfair to compare the 'new temporary guy' to John Allen . He knew nothing about the Industry and was bullied/swept along by various factions with personal interests !

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7 hours ago, JJ Flash said:

I suggest you and Leggy get  a hold of NZTAB board meetings minutes from last year. It may take an OIA request but you might find your answers

Doubt it. The last time I tried to do so by OIA, all financial information was redacted, even some that had already been publicly released. Won't waste my time again.

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