Details of TAB-Entain deal still unclear with concern gambling harm may rise - Problem Gambling Foundation

A new deal between the TAB and Entain is expected to bring a better return to New Zealand racing but the Problem Gambling Foundation isn't confident a rise in harm won't be seen.

Yesterday, Minister for Racing Kieran McAnulty approved a 25-year partnership between the TAB and UK betting company Entain.

The deal was set to deliver at least $900 million in guaranteed funding for the racing industry over the next five years.

McAnulty told Morning Report the deal was necessary as online gambling in recent years had seen the TAB's turnover go down, meaning money going into sports and racing was also going down.

He had been told that if something was not done, the TAB would fall over within three years.

McAnulty said the deal with Entain would see it provide the betting services in New Zealand as well as tap into harm mitigation strategies it had overseas which were "far superior to anything the TAB can do".

"The product will be better, the return for New Zealand racing will be better, far superior to anything the TAB could do by themselves and it doesn't cost the taxpayer so it seemed like a pretty good deal to me."

McAnulty said Entain would get 50 percent of profits made. It had guaranteed $150m over the next five years as well as a $150m lump sum to be distributed to New Zealand sports and racing.

He had negotiated with the TAB to see some of that lump sum put into harm mitigation.

"In my mind, and many others, it's quite easy to see that gambling in itself isn't bad. Problem gambling is very bad and we need to prevent that. Having structures in place that one, identify unhealthy behaviour, identify those who have exhibited that before and preventing them from betting, but also not having predatory advertising like we see overseas that encourages those that shouldn't be gambling to gamble money they don't have.

"That's the stuff we need to stop. The racing isn't bad."

McAnulty said $5m would be used to introduce facial recognition technology at TAB outlets and he believed it was a good use of the money.

The minister said there was a bigger piece of work that needed to be done about offshore providers that some Kiwis accessed for gambling.

"It's a worry for me because one, harm minimisation isn't a priority when it should be. Two, we don't know what the anti-money laundering laws/processes are like and three, every dollar that's spent with them isn't coming back to New Zealand sports and racing."

If officials came back to him and said geo-blocking the overseas sites was the best option, McAnulty said he was happy to put it forward to Cabinet for consideration.

Problem Gambling Foundation spokeswoman Andrée Froude told Morning Report there were still questions surrounding the deal and what its harm mitigation would look like.

"We do have concerns about this partnership and we don't feel we have got enough detail to feel confident that we won't see an increase in harm and we really want harm minimisation to be at the forefront of the deal and we heard it mentioned many times in the announcement but we actually don't know what it's going to look like and Entain's track record doesn't fill us with a lot of confidence either."

Froude said Entain had had regulatory failures in the past including around harm minimisation.

TAB has told its clients it would be able to access Entain's expertise and a "wide range of products" but what those products were was unknown, she said.

Geo-blocking, as McAnulty said was being looked into, was an option but Froude said it was unlikely that it would also include online casinos Kiwis would still be able to access.

"That's where this highlights the need for our Gambling Act to be brought up to date so that New Zealanders are protected by New Zealand law when they are gambling on those sites as well so I'm not quite sure what that geo-blocking will cover, and it can be a bit like whack-a-mole, you block one and up pops another one."

Online gambling was particularly risky, Froude said, as it was easy to do so harmfully - and hidden from sight.

Harness Racing New Zealand general manager Catherine McDonald told Morning Report she was "very excited" about the deal.

Harness Racing was looking at a reduction in funding - so this meant it had some surety going forward over the next five years.

"[It] gives us an opportunity to build back up to where we think we can offer a much more exciting product because we will have the funds to do so."

Greyhound racing 'no longer viable'

McAnulty has released a report into greyhound racing, saying the status quo was "no longer viable" and the industry must either shut down or face strict conditions.

Greyhound Racing New Zealand has been the subject of two inquiries since 2017 - the Hansen Report and Robertson Review - which found the organisation had a "culture of silence" and raised concerns around animal welfare.

But Greyhound Racing chief executive Edward Renell told Morning Report it was clear its performance around animal welfare needed to improve and it had made "significant improvements" over the past 12 months.

"I think it's incumbent on the racing industry to continually try and improve your performance around animal welfare and it's something you will continually strive to do better."

Despite the report finding five areas GRNZ needed to improve on, Renell said it had only just seen the report and it had already adopted new rules.

They included approving new welfare standards and having an education programme in place where licence holders must complete mandatory training to renew their licence.

He said $6m was being spent annually on animal welfare and it was striving to continually improve.

"The number of race-day euthanasias last year was down from 27 to 7 so we're certainly making progress."