Hinton presses his case as V’landys’ replacement

Racing NSW chief operating officer Graeme Hinton has firmly thrown his hat in the ring to be the next chief executive of the racing regulator, should long-serving administrator Peter V’landys opt not to return to the role after taking four months of leave to fulfil a key leadership position within rugby league.

Hinton will act as interim chief executive officer during V’landys’s absence, which will run from July 15 until mid-November, firmly establishing him as the top candidate for a job that V’landys has held for 22 years.

The unusual arrangement, which will see V’landys step up as executive chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission while the NRL searches for a new CEO, has prompted speculation as to whether his time at Racing NSW might come to an end.

V’landys said on Monday that he would consider his future with Racing NSW, as he always does, during the summer break.

Hinton told SEN Track’s Giddy Up With Gareth Hall that the CEO role was one he desired to take on at some point.

“I certainly would covet the role. I’ve been in my job for quite a long time, and I’ve certainly done a good apprenticeship,” he said.

“It’s an industry I care deeply about. I’ve grown up around racing and followed it and been a punter and an owner. Once it’s in your blood, it’s hard to shake.

“You’re certainly putting in the long hours and the effort, because you enjoy what you do.”

Hinton said he was focused on fulfilling his current role and then his elevated duties when V’landys takes leave. Asked specifically if he thought he would be CEO of Racing NSW in 2027, he said: “Mate, you never count your chickens till they hatch.”

For Hinton to come out so strongly on his ambitions for the CEO role less than 24 hours after V’landys’s leave period was confirmed seems telling. 

During a wide-ranging radio interview, he covered a host of major issues in depth, including the national tote, the current legal action with the Australian Turf Club (ATC) and the relationship with Racing Victoria.

Hinton certainly sounded more like a CEO-in-waiting than a COO.

On the national tote, he said a deal with Tabcorp and the three racing codes in NSW was close.

“Our role is to protect our industry, all three codes of racing. So any deal we do has got to make sure that it’s got the appropriate protections in place, because it is a very complicated matter,” he said.

“We’re hopeful we get an outcome here that sees a better product for punters and more liquidity in the pools, and something that also sets us up for more international revenue for the industry, which is a part that hasn’t been well publicised, but it is one of the best upsides of the deal.”

He said it would be up to Tabcorp as to when any deal was announced but that they were “getting close to a beneficial end for both parties”.

On the pending Supreme Court appeal involving the ATC, which is set to be heard on Thursday and Friday this week, Hinton said that Racing NSW remained determined to argue its case.

But he also said that the regulator and the club were working productively, praising the role that new ATC CEO Steve McMahon has played.

“Steve McMahon is someone who’s come in with a breath of fresh air for that club,” he said.

“He’s very much a can-do person. He’s not dissimilar to myself. He’s sat in a 2IC role there for a little while and waited for his opportunity to make his own mark at a board level.

“They’re currently recruiting a couple of new directors. So we’re hopeful that creates a bit of change in their organisation and some more profitability. They focus on their hospitality and other revenue-generating opportunities. We’re hopeful there’s a bright future for the club”

While Hinton said getting the original court decision, handed down by Justice Francois Kunc in February, overturned was not a simple task, there was an important principle at stake for Racing NSW.

“The key point I’ll make on the case is it’s about … not so much about the ATC, what that case is about is just confirming the way that our Act has been structured and what powers it provides to us,” he said.

“Our board had little choice but to run the appeal because the judgement that came down had some very … what we consider to be odd rulings that made some pretty significant restrictions on our Act, and we needed to have those clarified.”

Hinton said the centralised power approach Racing NSW has pursued in V’landys’ time in the role would continue under his watch.

“If you look globally at the strongest rates and jurisdictions, I’d say Hong Kong, Japan and New South Wales would be the three globally I’d say are the strongest. And what you find in each of those is there’s a consolidation of that power,” he said.

“When you’ve got one entity that is able to drive things forward and able to get the best deals and able to build the confidence of government, you get the best outcomes for everybody.

“If you compare that to jurisdictions like the US or the UK or even Queensland, for example, where you’ve got a fragmented model between regulatory and commercial functions, it gets harder to get things done. You tend to run into more problems. You run into different personality clashes between boards and your outcomes suffer as a result.”

Hinton described a strong principal racing authority (PRA) as “a really important cornerstone of the industry.”

“But what you want to then set up is a really strong, profitable club base, not just metro, but everybody, that can drive their own revenues for the areas they’re responsible for,” he said.

Hinton said he had “infrequent” contact with Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison, but that the two PRAs had worked closely in talking to the federal government about gambling advertising reform.

He also confirmed that Racing NSW had arranged to purchase Crown Lodge from Godolphin, saying the industry couldn’t afford to lose the Warwick Farm-based facility.