
4 minute read
CEO REPORT
Alan Clayton - GRV CEO
The 2019-20 year has been unlike any other in the history of greyhound racing in Victoria, as it has been for all the community. But despite the extraordinary and very trying circumstances, GRV managed to deliver outcomes that would have been noteworthy even in a normal year. These included a significant improvement in key welfare areas, a strong racing and wagering performance and a range of new promotional and marketing initiatives to drive a growing customer base. The welfare of greyhounds is at the heart of our sport, from birth to re-homing, and remains an overriding priority for GRV. During the year we achieved some very good outcomes despite the circumstances in the second half of the year, including maintaining a strong re-homing program and a major fall in euthanasia rates.
We upgraded our Watchdog mobile app in 2019-20, introducing new features such as dedicated live streaming via Sky Racing for all Victorian greyhound race meetings and an expanded in-depth form guide, including an animated early speed
indicator for each greyhound on all Victorian race cards. Other enhancements over the year included fixed odds market movers, improvements to Click To Bet, more detailed form guides and statistics, expert selections and video previews and faster race replays. The app increased in popularity over the year, reaching more than 105,000 engaged users. The fact that greyhound racing was able to keep operating at a time when many other sporting codes had to suspend operations generated many new customers and accelerated GRV’s focus on commercial development to keep them engaged with and wagering on the sport.
Due to the COVID 19 pandemic a number of measures were introduced including a regional resourcing model to minimise travel and interaction with race day staff, providing PPE and making masks or other facial coverings mandatory at tracks, restricting race day attendance to essential staff only, control of interstate travel for racing purposes, health checks for entry to tracks and strict social distancing and biosecurity protocols that included revised vetting, kenneling and boxing procedures.
Participants were kept constantly updated about these measures through GRV and club communications and GRV stewards took on the responsibility of ensuring compliance with these measures. In addition, GRV directed that all staff should work from home wherever possible and ensured they had the network access and resources to do so.
GRV’s budget forecasts fluctuated over the year due to a shortfall in racing fields and then the impact of COVID-19 but achieved a relatively robust financial position by 30 June 2020. Total income was up 2.9% on the previous year to $106.6 million, due in large part to a 39% increase in Racefields income which offset a 21% fall in Tabcorp income. Total expenses were also up by 1.2% to $106.9 million with much of this driven by the cost of implementing biosecurity protocols. However, GRV did finish the year by eliminating its 2018-19 deficit and recording a $700,000 profit following a revaluation of its land and buildings and its liquidity levels remained strong.
I was pleased with what was achieved during an extremely challenging year and it has been a privilege for greyhound racing to continue at a time when many other sporting codes had to suspend operations from March 2020. It is a privilege that was earned by the way in which participants, club, and race day staff worked with each other and with GCV and GRV to follow biosecurity protocols and keep the sport free from any COVID-19 transmissions.
For the coming year, GRV will continue to ensure it delivers the safest and healthiest possible work environment for participants and staff in line with advice from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer. Beyond that welfare and integrity will remain as key pillars. This includes delivering the five-year Safer Racing Program and further strengthening integrity processes.
They will be joined by a third pillar which is a new and expanded racing program to help spread GRV’s fixed costs across more races and create more opportunities for dogs to race, generating more revenue, both per race and in general. This increased income in turn will allow GRV to grow the prizemoney pool for the benefit of our participants and invest more in infrastructure improvements and promoting the sport to new customers. Another focus for 2020-21 will be modernising and upgrading GRV core and participant facing systems and processes to ensure the organisation can more effectively manage future growth and prepare for new challenges.
Finally, I thank the GRV Board, our consultation and reference groups, GCV and all Victoria’s greyhound racing clubs for their hard work and commitment over the year. I also acknowledge the support of the Victorian Government and all our stakeholders including the TAB and other wagering partners, our media partners, RSPCA Victoria, re-homing agencies and our interstate colleagues. And most of all I thank all the participants and club and GRV staff and volunteers for their great work in keeping our sport on track and indeed thriving throughout the year.
Alan Clayton
