Page 260 - Week 01 - Thursday, 29 November 2012
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The change coincided with the introduction of the race field information legislation. With the exception of the Northern Territory, all of the racing jurisdictions impose a payment for the use of race field information. These product payments are enacted through race field legislation and apply to wagering operators using race field information in their business activities.
In New South Wales, the introduction of similar legislation resulted in Federal Court proceedings with operators challenging the way payments were calculated. The model is based upon a 1.5 per cent of turnover, as opposed to the gross revenue model currently in use in the ACT.
In March of this year, the High Court found in favour of the New South Wales authorities thus enabling a fee to be charged on assessable turnover. Following the High Court decision, Victoria and Queensland both announced a move to the turnover model based on 1.5 per cent, similar to that prevailing in New South Wales, with increased percentages during major carnivals.
The government, in its earlier response to the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission investigation into the ACT racing industry, agreed to urgently assess the need for amendments to the current scheme in light of the recent High Court decision and subsequent submissions from the industry with regard to other jurisdictions’ approaches in the area to ensure that the territory maintains an appropriate and adequate payments scheme.
The proposed amendments will allow three controlling bodies—the thoroughbred racing, the harness racing and the greyhound racing clubs—to directly set and collect race field information charges from wagering operators. How the quantum is set for race field information charges will be at the discretion of the controlling body.
The new arrangements mean that the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission will no longer play a direct role in the administration of the race field information charge scheme. However, the proposed amendments do not affect the commission’s current broader responsibilities in upholding the integrity of the system through the licensing of wagering operators in the ACT.
Whilst the changes seek to reflect best practice of similar legislation in Victoria, and particularly in New South Wales, the government wishes to maintain the integrity of the scheme and to ensure the new arrangements are appropriately supported throughout the transition period.
As a result, whilst the approval of entities and the setting and the notification of fees and relevant thresholds will become the responsibility of the controlling bodies from the date of commencement of the amendments, existing arrangements with the Gambling and Racing Commission in terms of assessing the liability of approved entities and the payment to the racing clubs of fees collected will remain in place as long as necessary to wrap up all activity relating to the current financial year.
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