Racecourses prepared to stage Sunday meetings are to be given a cash incentive as part of the Levy Board’s $A17 million increase in prize money for 2013.
The Board’s Betting Patterns Working Party (BPWP) has proposed an offer of $7,800 supplementary prize money payment to fixtures on Sundays which offer prize money of at least $62,500 at the programme book stage around three months before the fixture.
The supplementary prize money will then be added to the value of the advertised card when it is finalised.
The aim is to improve the quality of Sunday racing and hopefully provide an increase in betting turnover levels on that day, which remains the lowest performing of the week.
The total cost of the initiative for the full year is estimated at $516,000, which will be provided from the Levy Board’s Racing and Betting Incentive Fund.
This fund was created this year to support schemes to benefit both racing and betting.
In 2013 this fund will also support the continuation of the Interactive Race Planning initiative for a further year, providing prize money of around $312,500.
“There has been wide support for looking to improve the quality of Sunday programmes and this new targeted fund is intended to help achieve that,” Levy Board operations director Alan Delmonte said.
“Consultation among racecourses suggests that a number will look to enhance their programmes as a result of the extra funding.
“Bookmakers will assist us in assessing the extent of any changes in betting turnover over the course of the year.”
