The beginning of the week saw the Queensland State Government announce its decision to roll out a significant increase to the taxes paid by the corporate sports betting operators.
The local Government’s intention is to bring changes to the way in which racing is funded. As part of these changes, the local lawmakers have decided to introduce a new 5% racing levy in addition to the so-called Point of Consumption tax that bookmakers are already required to pay. The Queensland State Government also revealed that free and bonus bets will be now included in the Point of Consumption tax paid by local sports betting companies.
The local lawmakers further announced that the portion of the tax revenue used for funding the state’s racing industry will be boosted. Under the new rules that are set to be implemented by the Government, 80% of the taxes will go directly to support professional racing. Previously, only 35% of these taxes were used to do so.
The Government’s reasoning for the aforementioned changes has been provided by Queensland’s minister for trade and investment who is also the state’s treasurer, Cameron Dick. He explained that, so far, the sports betting sector in the state has been extremely reliant on the short-term funding programmes of the local Government and it was now high time to provide the industry with the certainty it actually needed. Queensland’s treasurer further noted that the industry’s funding will grow, as long as the size of the sector does.
Tabcorp Has So Far Been the Largest Contributor to the Queensland Racing Sector
The recently announced changes have been welcomed by the largest gambling operator in Australia, Tabcorp. For about a decade now, the gambling and sports betting group has provided significant funding to the local racing sector, which makes it the largest contributor to the industry.
The implementation of the Queensland Government’s new tax rules will see foreign gambling and sports betting companies also become subject to the requirement of contributing a fair share of their tax revenue.
According to the state’s minister of racing, Ignazia Graziella Grace, the new funding format that is set to be implemented by the competent authorities is set to offer much more chances for industry-wide sponsorships for the 125 local racing clubs. Ms Grace further shared that the largest gambling company in the country agreed to offer AU$50 million as funding for a racing infrastructure improvement project. Tabcorp also agreed to make an AU$100-million contribution to Racing Queensland.
Under the newly-unveiled changes, Tabcorp will no longer remain the exclusive sponsor of the Queensland racing sector. The company will also no longer have exclusivity on on-course sponsorship and advertising but will keep its retail exclusivity.
The CEO and managing director of Tabcorp, Adam Rytenskild, also highlighted the fact that the local Government and Racing Queensland have so far supported and unveiled fair reforms that always put the interests of the country and the state first. According to Mr Rytenskild, the new rules would be great for TABs in local clubs and pubs, and also for punters across the territory of the state.
- Author
Daniel Williams
