🔒 🔒 Canberra wagering returns break four-year slide

Canberra Racing Club has recorded a 4 per cent increase in wagering returns, bucking a four-year decline in average race-fields revenue per race despite challenging market conditions and the ACT’s high point-of-consumption tax regime.

The improvement was a key feature of the club’s 2025-26 annual report, which recorded a $71,568 surplus on revenue of $17.07 million, up 2.2 per cent on the previous financial year.

“For the first time since 2021/22, we have seen an increase in average race fields revenue per race, breaking a downwards four-year trend,” the club said in its wagering report.

The club said its wagering returns grew faster than the average for its peers, despite what it described as a comparatively lower funding model and a higher taxation regime in the ACT.

The club completed all 25 programmed meetings during the year, with average field sizes of 9.23, broadly consistent with the previous season’s 9.25.

The wagering recovery comes as the club manages its financial position and prepares for the expiry of its funding agreement with the ACT government on June 30, 2027.

Government distributions accounted for 43 per cent of the club’s $17.07 million revenue, while Race Fields Legislation income contributed a further 27 per cent, underlining the contribution of both public funding and wagering-related returns to its operations.

Chief executive Darren Pearce said negotiating a sustainable government funding arrangement was a priority for the coming year, alongside advancing the planning process for Thoroughbred Park and addressing future stabling capacity.

The club also faces uncertainty over the federal government’s wagering advertising reforms, which take effect on January 1.

“Given that a portion of our club’s financial sustainability is linked to wagering activity, it is vital that we proactively manage this transition,” Pearce said.

The club said it would monitor the direct and indirect effects of the restrictions on wagering revenue as the changes are introduced.

Other signs of progress included the club repaying the loan used to purchase its Polytrack synthetic surface.

Thoroughbred Park’s training precinct has also expanded rapidly, with almost 350 horses in work in May 2026, up from 176 in July 2024, leaving the racecourse’s stabling at capacity.

The growth followed changes to workers’ compensation arrangements for thoroughbred trainers in the ACT, which let existing operations expand and encouraged new businesses to set up at the venue.

NSW country trainers Nick Olive, based at Queanbeyan, and Danielle Seib, from Goulburn, moved their stables to Thoroughbred Park, while Neil Osborne began using its facilities from his Mane Lodge base across the border.

The racecourse now accommodates 20 trainers, according to the club, and a 92 per cent increase in horses in active work over less than two years highlights the scale of the change.

The club said the expansion reflected renewed confidence in the local training environment following the reforms, as well as continued investment in racing and training.

“Given that a portion of our club’s financial sustainability is linked to wagering activity, it is vital that we proactively manage this transition.” – Darren Pearce

The club’s cost base remains heavily weighted towards racing, which accounted for 49 per cent of total expenses in 2025-26.

“The renewal and retention of important commercial relationships provided valuable certainty during a difficult period for the wider racing and wagering sectors and economy at large,” Pearce said.

“We continue to look at innovative strategies to maximise the club’s returns and provide a positive racing environment for members, participants and our horses.

“As mentioned last year, the club is in constant dialogue with the ACT government on the negative impacts government policies can have on our returns, which in turn can affect the positive benefits we provide to the Canberra community overall.”