SA Introduces Prizemoney Bonuses Based On Betting Turnover
Greyhound Racing South Australia (GRSA) have today announced their intention to provide monthly prizemoney “bonuses” to maintain returns to participants at half the monthly net betting revenue GRSA receives. South Australian participants have received just over 45% of the net betting revenue under the current prizemoney schedule.
GRSA have branded the prizemoney “top ups” as Wagering Activity Payments (WAP) and say they come after consultation with the Industry Consultative Group (ICG) and Club representatives.
WAPs are designed to provide participants with an equity share in wagering revenue by linking a fraction of standard graded stakemoney payments within a given month to revenue outcomes during the same period. When wagering is sufficient to trigger a WAP, the payment to connections will apply as a pro-rata calculation against any standard graded stakemoney earned in that month.
Noting that the industry has continued to grow over the past five years, there have only been two months during that time when a monthly WAP would not have been paid due to poor wagering performance.
In recent years, returns to participants have typically averaged between 45% and 48% of net wagering revenue, based on a process of annual review and adjustment. The new WAP model will ensure that participants receive exactly 50% of net wagering revenue in any given year, noting that industry returns will move in line with wagering performance.
To the extent that history is an accurate guide, the WAP model would be expected to generate a monthly return to participants approaching $50,000 (or an extra $600,000 per annum). Connections will not only share in the upside when wagering is positive but will do so in a timely manner.
“In the long-term, this model is all about rewarding participants for their efforts and converting wagering outcomes into industry returns sooner than would have otherwise been the case,” stated GRSA Chairman Grantley Stevens.
The first Wagering Activity Payments will be backdated to include June and July.
The WAP for June was $64,000. Noting that July happened to have been GRSA's strongest month on record, the WAP payment for that month was $291,000 in what amounts to an extraordinary outcome, albeit one which gives a positive sense of the model's potential.
Where applicable, WAP's will be paid into accounts on or around the 21st day of each month.
The first two months of payments of $355,000 will be processed on Friday August 21 in line with existing splits defined in OzChase for regular stakemoney payments.