UQ academic advocates changes for Queensland racing industry

The Queensland racing industry is in need of dramatic change to regain prosperity and the traditional structure of racing must be seriously questioned, according to a University of Queensland researcher.

"Unfortunately a culture of vested interests has resulted in bitter political factions within the racing industry, not just between venues, but among other stakeholders. This makes any positive change extremely difficult," Rohan Miller said.

"The racing industry?s downward spiral seems certain to continue in the absence of massive change."

Mr Miller of the UQ Business School at UQ Ipswich is one of Australia's leading authorities in consumer behaviour and gambling.

In June he presented several papers at the World Gaming conference in Las Vegas and earlier this year made a submission to the Queensland Government on national competition policy issues for the Queensland racing industry.

The Queensland Government submission argued that the industry has become too distant from consumers and potential customers. It also said the role of marketing should be critically examined, and criticised the Queensland racing industry's issues paper for omitting the existence of any vision or mission for the industry.

Next month Mr Miller, Professor Dick Mizerski of the University of Western Australia and Dr Katherine Mizerski of Edith Cowen University will present a paper suggesting structural change in the Queensland racing industry at the National Association for Gambling Studies 10th national conference in Victoria.

The paper suggests that with an organisational structure ensconced in the 1930s, it was little wonder that the racing industry in Queensland was unable to meet the challenges of competition and technology.

"In contrast to all other forms of gambling, the recent Review of Gaming in Queensland clearly acknowledges racing in Queensland is in decline," Mr Miller said.

"Its market share fell from 30 percent in 1991-92 to 16 percent in 1997-98.

"Foremost among the characteristics that makes the racing industry unwieldy is a lack of vision and strategies specifically relating customer development. Further, in the light of the recent debate about marketing the sport of racing, it is clear the industry needs to undertake a comprehensive marketing audit that covers all areas from customers to the skills of marketers within the racing industry. This will assist determine the research, structure and resources need to create positive change."

Mr Miller said although racing was a product in decline, there had been no real product development for many years. He said as the popular face of racing industry betting, Totalisator Boards, had similarly made few developments that appealed to new consumers or developed the racing product.

"With the privatisation of these boards, the racing product faces the challenge of becoming just another product line for sports betting with little incentive research in the critical areas of customer satisfaction and responsible gambling," he said.

"There are viable alternatives to the present system of operation. However, considerable work and consultation should be undertaken before any restructuring is undertaken within the industry. There is too much at stake for too many people to ad hoc decision making.

"There seems little point introducing new competition to an industry in decline. It will only hasten that decline and fragment resources. Rather, a customer focused restructuring is required that offers better products."

He said it was contentious whether clubs were effectively discharging their charter of promoting, organising and administering racing activities. Significant portions of the functions traditionally associated with clubs, such as promotions, telecast rights and stewardship, had been assumed by other entities like Boards of Control.

This suggested that many contemporary racing clubs were little more than social clubs and landlords of large parcels of land used only a few times each year. When the size of competitors was considered, neither individual clubs nor codes of racing might have the critical mass required to increase or maintain market share within responsible gambling policies.

Mr Miller said the racing industry had a window of opportunity to undertake massive change and improvement to the codes by supporting and helping shape new racing legislation drafted within context of the National Competition Policy.

Media: Further information: Rohan Miller, telephone 3381 1081 or mobile 0411 123455, or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au