Joanne Lee from the Coalition for the Safety of Greyhounds mentioned arguments that greyhound racing was a neighborhood sport appeared weak when a lot of its earnings got here from individuals who solely considered races as lists of odds on betting web sites.
“The truth is that greyhound racing wouldn’t exist with out the huge quantities of cash wagered by punters on-line who won’t ever attend a race. Given the dramatic discount in racetrack attendance, there’s just about no cash made by way of neighborhood engagement,” she mentioned.
NSW recorded its first greyhound racing fatality of 2023 final week: a canine racing at Wentworth Park, in Glebe, was euthanised after colliding with different animals on the monitor on Thursday. Eight canines died on the monitor in 2022, along with two at Richmond and one at Potts Park, in Yagoona.
“The remainder of the world has seen the writing on the wall and is quickly shifting away from greyhound racing — the grubby greyhound playing business in NSW is lapping up the earnings in consequence,” mentioned state Greens member Abigail Boyd.
“Lately, now we have seen the NSW greyhound racing business change race occasions to go well with individuals betting in actual time abroad, whatever the inconvenience induced to individuals and race officers and the extra dangers it provides from an animal welfare perspective.”
Requested if working races earlier within the morning was influenced by worldwide markets, Macaulay mentioned the organisation was “contemplating its choices” to have interaction viewers abroad however the bulk of its income was from Australia.
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Greyhound racing was set to be outlawed in NSW from July 1, 2017 as a consequence of animal welfare considerations, however former Liberal premier Mike Baird overturned the choice simply three months after it was handed, as an alternative promising to scrub up the business.
Nonetheless, critics say state authorities interventions to enhance security and regulation, in addition to taxes on playing, have contributed to greyhound racing’s wealth.
The state authorities invested $30 million into monitor security upgrades in 2021, a price which opponents say saved bills for the racing business.
In 2018, NSW established an impartial regulator, the Greyhounds Welfare Integrity Fee (GWIC). Earlier than the 2021-22 monetary 12 months, the regulator was funded by Greyhounds Racing NSW, which critics mentioned compromised its independence. It’s now funded principally by the state authorities’s 10 per cent level of consumption tax on on-line wagering (whereas racing’s share of cash gathered from that tax has additionally elevated).
“The greyhound racing business is funded by the playing business and state governments. With out these two income streams, the business could be unviable,” mentioned Lee.
In an announcement, NSW Minister for Hospitality and Racing Kevin Anderson mentioned “animal welfare is on the coronary heart of the NSW authorities’s assist for the greyhound business”, declining to reply questions on whether or not it had facilitated a rise in Greyhound Racing NSW’s earnings.
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