There has been a lot of misinformation spread recently about Greyhound Racing NSW’s (GRNSW) decision to close three (3) tracks in NSW. GRNSW would like to ensure that everyone has the true facts about its recent optimisation decision.
“Following the announcement of track optimisation, the key issue for its necessary implementation remains overlooked. GRNSW do not have the capital reserves or the required revenue to upgrade and maintain 18 TAB tracks in NSW,” GRNSW Chief Executive Officer Steve Griffin said.
At the Industry Summit at Wentworth Park in May 2025 that was attended by stakeholders, Race Clubs and Participants, it was unanimously agreed that a track optimisation plan was critical to ensure the sustainability and viability of the greyhound racing industry.
Further to the industry Summit identifying the urgency of optimisation, the Drake report released in December 2025 after an inquiry into greyhound racing in NSW amplified the necessity for the industry to rationalise the number of racetracks.
“If we continue to operate 18 TAB tracks, the industry will go backward financially and the vision of GRNSW to increase prizemoney and the returns to participants would simply not be possible.” Mr Griffin said.
In administering the sport, the principal objectives of GRNSW under the NSW Greyhound Racing Act 2017 is to ensure that the sport is commercially viable.
“The truth of the matter is that GRNSW was forced to make these decisions because of the failure of successive Governments to address the unfair and unjust redistribution of industry revenue.
“Each year, over $50m of revenue earned by our industry is unfairly redistributed to the other two racing codes under the inter-code agreement and the Point of Consumption Tax arrangements.
“The Drake Inquiry last year was the fifth Government report to recommend that the Government do away with this unjust and unfair redistribution of our industry’s revenue.
“We call on the Government to address the inter-code and Point of Consumption Tax revenue distribution, as recommended by Drake, so that our industry receives the revenue it earns each and every day. It is time for the Government to change this unjust and unfair situation.” Mr Griffin said.
“No other racing jurisdiction in Australia has its racing revenue redistributed to someone who didn’t earn it. These circumstances also unfairly make it difficult for us to compete with other jurisdictions for a share of the wagering market and importantly then have the financial capacity to invest back into the industry through either track upgrades and importantly defraying costs to the industry participants by contributing to an increase in prizemoney.”
In terms of the the closures of Broken Hill, Wagga and Muswellbrook, at the industry Summit in May 2025, not only was it determined that an optimisation plan was necessary, those Stakeholders and the Race Club representatives established the criteria that was introduced to assess each of the Clubs.
All 26 TAB and non-TAB Race Clubs were independently assessed by Deloitte Australia against these established criteria as part of the racing footprint optimisation report last year.
In finalising the report and the individual club assessments against the selected criteria Broken Hill were assessed as 25th out of 26 clubs assessed, while Wagga was assessed as 20th.
At the time of the assessment the Wagga Club had no long-term lease with the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Society. Although to GRNSW’s knowledge this tenure remains the same, any formal long-term extension of the lease will not impact Wagga’s club assessment as a result of scoring in other criteria.
Other criteria at the time of the club’s assessment included the club trading in a deficit for one of the three years being assessed for commercial viability while the clubs average race meeting nomination numbers were in the bottom two TAB clubs for the assessment period.
In 2024 Wagga’s average nominations were at 96 per meeting (Temora’s was 109) whilst the average across the State was 107 nominations per meeting, this extended into 2025 with the Wagga average nominations at 85 per meeting (Temora at 104) against the State average of 105 nominations per race meeting.
In addition, Wagga’s serious injury rates assessed over the previous three years resulted in Wagga being assessed as 17th out of the 26 Clubs assessed including non-Tab venues. This has substantially impacted Wagga when assessing the club against the criteria, as did recent asset investment at the club and the amount of investment required to bring the track up to minimum track standards.
“The Deloitte report made it clear that, given the number of participants and greyhounds in the Riverina region, the assessment identified that only the one track was required in the region. Temora scored 6th in the club assessment process, well in excess of the Wagga club,” Mr Griffin said.
Race meetings will not be lost from the region as has been suggested and prizemoney will increase per race and per meeting. Temora is 86 kilometres from Wagga and the travel time is less than one hour. Approximately 80 per cent of all NSW participants travel in excess of 60 minutes to race each day.
GRNSW chose the closure of the Muswellbrook track over the closure over the Maitland track for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Muswellbrook track has been problematic to operate and would require substantially more investment to keep running. Secondly, GRNSW also listened to feedback from participants in the region who indicated the need for a one-turn track in the region.
“Any suggestion that racing is in decline as a result of racing at fewer tracks is ridiculous,” Mr Griffin said. “We will be racing the same number of races, if not more, at fewer tracks which will make these clubs, and the industry as a whole, more profitable and reduces the industry’s maintenance costs.
“GRNSW has had to make these difficult decisions as, given the redistribution of our revenue, optimisation of track clubs is in the best financial interests of the sport in terms of ensuring its ongoing commercial viability.”