Peters WinstonRt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister for Racing): I want to thank Ian McKelvie for his comments. I don't know whether he's accurate about the TAB overnight with respect to the cricket. In fact I wouldn't be too certain that the bet was off to a great start but this is about the racing industry in particular. It really is an extraordinary question but I've decided to at this time ask the question: who owns the TAB? Here we are 19 June 2019 and we're asking that question. So we need to sort it out and fast. Can I say to Nikki Kaye that when she says the issue of greater sports distribution—well I can make it very very clear that the racing industry itself is not just about horse racing. I don't know if you remember the song Rugby Racing and Beer" but it used to have the phrase "Down under we're mad over our rugby racing and beer." So it's not just about racing. On the question of distribution I don't think she's right when she said 90 percent could be sport related; it's 27 percent now. What's being missed is if you're going to say that that 27 percent should go directly to sports—because it came via other sports—what's the cost of maintenance of the system that brings that 27 percent about? Surely that's got to be shared. On the question of whether there should be a greater percentage well that certainly is an open debate and we should be proceeding with it. There'll be additions to the Racing Industry Transitional Agency to ensure that sport is represented. So we've got to find the right person but the Minister for Sport and Recreation of course will have to be consulted anyway. The big issue is to grow the pie. On the question she raised about harm minimisation well we're going to make sure that there is a far greater allocation to go towards harm minimisation. But I want to say this: you go in a casino and—it's an extraordinary thing—you say "Here's all my money. I hope I get some of it back". Now racing and the TAB is not like that. In racing and the TAB you're putting your best judgment your knowledge and your studentship of the game or the sport that you're watching against the rest of the country. It has got a certain excitement and certain people who are skilled in it do very very well. The casino—it's all over to chance. If you're any good and you can count numbers then they expel you; you're banned from the casino. How does that work? So this is a far more fair system but I do understand that those who are in sports should be assured that there's no purpose here to have a dispute arising with the sports bodies or indeed disputes between the three codes—the gallops the trots and the dogs. We can surely do much better. We can do far better for all of them. You are right Mr Bennett stake money is the number one issue here because it's the owner who is the most critical person in sports racing. They pay all the bills for the vets the trainers the whole hundred yards the carriers the farriers; everybody associated with racing is paid for in the end by the owner. I'm going to give them a fairer go. On synthetic tracks—it makes good sense surely to not have the massive cancellations we have because of our weather so that the race on race day goes on."