Victoria’s spring carnival saw a third consecutive year of reduced wagering turnover, with a drop of 8.2 per cent, while bookie margins continued to increase.
Data presented by chief executive Aaron Morrison at Racing Victoria’s (RV) annual general meeting (AGM) revealed that overall spring racing turnover from August 31 until November 10 dropped to $2.3 billion, an 8.2 per cent reduction on 2023.
That comes after overall turnover dropped 10 per cent from the 2022 to 2023 spring carnivals and 3.6 per cent from 2021 into 2022 as the post-pandemic wagering boom burst.
The most impacted aspect of the carnival was the three-day Caulfield meeting in October, which had a rise in attendance but which saw its turnover crash 14.6 per cent to $225 million.
That came after a 10 per cent drop in 2023, meaning that turnover has fallen by close to $70 million in the space of 24 months on just those three meetings.
The two-day Moonee Valley carnival dropped 7.5 per cent to $146 million in turnover, in what was the first year of the rescheduling of the Manikato Stakes to AFL grand final eve.
The Melbourne Cup carnival, which saw a 9 per cent rise in attendance, had a small reduction in turnover of 1 per cent to $663 million. That was after a major drop of 15 per cent last year.
The AGM presentation noted that the number of active accounts across the spring carnival was similar to last year but the average bet and bet frequency had reduced. That mirrors what has been reported elsewhere in the industry.
Pushing that along was a massive reduction in the amount of free bets offered by bookmakers. Overall free bet turnover fell 11.1 per cent across the spring carnival, having slumped 36 per cent in 2023.
Bookies have significantly tightened their marketing spend on major meetings, with free bets down 23.5 per cent across the Caulfield carnival, 16.9 per cent at Moonee Valley and 3.9 per cent during Flemington’s four days.
It came when Victoria introduced an increase to its Point of Consumption Tax rate from 10 per cent to 15 per cent in June this year.
Bren O’Brien
But while turnover was down, the margins for the bookies continued to increase. RV reported that bookies’ margins across the entire carnival were 15.9 per cent, up from 15.7 per cent in 2023.
They did especially well out of the Caulfield carnival, with a 23.9 per cent margin across those meetings, while Moonee Valley was 17.3 per cent and Flemington 12.3 per cent.
One of the key reasons for the strong results on feature meetings was the low winning percentages of favourites, with 25.5 per cent through the metropolitan meetings during the 2024 spring carnival against 29 per cent in 2023.
That growth in margins will help offset the drop in revenue expected to RV from the overall reduction in turnover. Higher margins were listed as a major factor in better-than-expected wagering returns in 2023/24.
The AGM presentation also highlighted the need to use cash reserves to temporarily fund short-term deficits as Victoria’s funding model undergoes a transition and the wagering market softens.
Bren O’Brien
Morrison has flagged significant cost-cutting after RV announced a $12 million deficit last financial year.
Earlier this week, he announced a restructuring of the executive team which manages the media business, with two executives, RDCM CEO Peter Campbell and RSN CEO Bernard Saundry, to depart after their roles were abolished.
