RWWA Records 4.5% Lift in Annual Profit before Industry Funding
20 October, 2017
Industry
Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA) has today announced its financial results for the year ending 31 July 2017, highlighting a 4.5% increase in overall profit before industry funding.
“RWWA achieved a positive financial outcome with overall profit before industry funding increasing by 4.5% from $140.8M in 2015/16 to $147.1M in 2016/17,” said RWWA CEO Richard Burt.
In 2016/17 a record allocation of $152M was distributed to the Western Australian racing and sporting industries, an additional $3M from the previous year.
Since RWWA’s inception in 2003, annual funding to the industry has increased from $63M to $152M; a 141% increase over a 14 year period.
A further $29M of funding was dedicated to racing administration and integrity services, leading to an overall funding commitment of $181M for the year.
“The racing industry is an important contributor to employment, participation and economic development within Western Australia. The industry generates more than $821M in economic contribution to the State and has over 24,000 people participating in the sport,” said RWWA CEO Richard Burt.
“Racing enjoys mass participation across the state with 823,000 people attending race meetings annually and has a heritage that needs to be acknowledged and supported for future generations.”
Whilst lowering betting values resulted in a decline in wagering revenue from the TAB of 4.14%, the strong margin across the year from pari-mutuel and fixed odds of 17.1%, assisted to offset the turnover result. Furthermore, income from interstate wagering operators betting on Western Australian racing increased by 11%, a total of $5.3M for the year.
As part of the record funding level, $5.8M was provided towards RWWA funded infrastructure grants to race clubs for maintenance and renewal of racing and public facilities.
In addition to RWWA funded grants, the Western Australian Government contributed $1.9M during the year, through the Royalties for Regions program toward racing infrastructure grants. It is expected the remaining Government funded grants of $2M will be committed and expensed in 2017/18.
During the year, RWWA commenced development of new strategic plans for each of the three racing codes. These plans are important in communicating and gaining stakeholder support for each code in order to achieve positive long term commercial sustainability. Full implementation of the code plans will occur following consultation with industry in early 2017/18.
For the first time RWWA has provided a breakdown of statistics regarding greyhound euthanasia and rehoming numbers in its annual report.
The statistics highlight a decrease in euthanasia relating to greyhounds not being suitable for rehoming of 93% from the previous year. The dramatic decrease is due to a number of strategies being implemented by RWWA’s integrity department, including mandatory behavioural assessments for retired greyhounds, increased investment in RWWA’s rehoming initiative (Greyhounds as Pets (GAP)), enhanced data capture and tracking, and stricter breeding controls.
The statistics also highlight a 102% increase in adoptions through GAP, with a total of 245 greyhound being rehomed by the program in 2016/17.
“RWWA is committed to ensuring that the best levels of care are given to greyhounds throughout all stages of their lives, through a program of investment, education, monitoring and regulation. When a greyhound retires from the racing industry, at any age, RWWA aims to achieve every healthy and behaviourally sound greyhound being rehomed,” said RWWA CEO Richard Burt.
The 2017 RWWA Annual Report can be viewed here.