Racing Minister Troy Grant has indicated any financial "windfall" for the racing industry from betting-tax parity will be "delivered via a future-fund model controlled by the government," according to Chris Roots of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Racing NSW has "fought a long battle" to get tax parity and its strategic plan released last year to set out how it "hoped to use any extra funding," which would come from tax parity, including A$50M ($38.2M) in prize money. However, Grant said on Tuesday that rather than allowing the money to flow directly to the racing regulatory bodies -- Racing NSW, Harness Racing NSW and Greyhound Racing NSW -- the government "favoured a model whereby it would keep control of the extra funding to ensure it had a say on how it was used." Grant: "We see this as more about sustainability and infrastructure within racing, rather than prize money." Grant, who is also the deputy premier of NSW, made it clear greyhound racing would not be part of the parity agreement until the findings were "handed down from the Michael McHugh review into the industry, stemming from the live-baiting scandal." He added that there were at least five models being considered to "deliver additional revenue from any reform" of the TAB revenue distribution model to the racing codes around the state (SMH, 4/14).
