Tasracing report is all smoke and mirrors - Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds

by Jeff White, Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds and Fran Chambers, Let Greyhounds Run Free

Tasracing has released one of those consultant reports that purport to measure the economic benefit to society of the racing industry.⁽¹⁾ It’s all smoke and mirrors. This report is produced by IER, which has many years of experience providing the same public relations service to the other Australian and NZ racing jurisdictions.

We are supposed to believe that making 843 greyhounds run around racetracks magically results in an economic benefit of $53.2 million to Tasmania.

The report assumes that Industry Expenditure = Economic Growth, a highly questionable assumption, especially when as shown on page 13 of the report, 85.5% of the expenditure on greyhound racing is made by punters. This is mainly gambling money, which produces no “value added” or “growth” or “wealth”, but simply moves money from the pockets of the losers to the pockets of the winners, plus the state’s and the racetrack’s cut.

Breeding, training, and feeding greyhounds accounts for less than 15% of the money spent in the industry. Much of it, if not all, would otherwise be spent on other activity anyway if dog racing didn’t exist.

An "unreliable and problematic" approach

Both this report and another Tasracing report produced by IER in 2013 use the multiplier effect. The Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance has criticised this approach, describing it as “unreliable and problematic”⁽²⁾.

That’s because, as the Treasury points out, ‘if a multiplier effect was included for all existing industries in Tasmania when estimating their economic contribution to the State, the combined effect would be that Tasmania’s economy would be two or three times its current size’.

Racing industry employs 0.08 percent of Tasmanians

The 2021 IER Report claims that 1,515 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs are sustained by the Tasmanian racing industry. In late September 2021, Minister for Racing Howlett stated that “more than 5,500 Tasmanians are either employed in the industry or are direct participants”.

However, the Treasury report tells us that “according to the most recent ABS census data (2016), of the total workforce in Tasmania, 181 people derived their main income from the racing industry. This equates to 0.08 per cent of the Tasmanian workforce.”

It appears that the report double and triple-counts the number of breeders, owners and trainers in order to inflate those involved in the industry. A single greyhound operator often fulfils all of these roles, yet they appear to be counted separately for each ‘occupation’, allowing inflated claims about the number of FTE jobs in Tasmania.

An industry paid for by taxpayers

State governments are under constant pressure to justify supporting the racing industry with millions of taxpayer dollars. This is especially true for the Tasmanian racing industry which receives more than double any other Australian jurisdiction. Under a 20 year contract agreed in 2009, the industry receives a minimum of $27 million a year.

Yet another taxpayer funded enquiry into Tasracing in 2010⁽⁴⁾ found that “the ongoing indexed $27 million funding model fails to tie funding to performance and is irrespective of revenue earned”.

Tasracing reported a loss of $3.92 million over the 2019/2020 financial year.

Department of Treasury and Finance Report, Tasmania
Government funding data is not available for WA and NT

(1) IER Report 2021: Size and Scope of the Tasmanian Racing Industry
(2) Department of Treasury and Finance, Tasmania: Tasracing Pty Ltd, a desktop review of the costs and functions of Tasracing
(3) IER Report, 2013: Size and Scope of the Tasmanian Racing Industry
(4) Parliament of Tasmania:Inquiry into the performance of Tasracing