Racing Victoria believes it could potentially save the industry up to $50 million in efficiencies a year if race clubs consolidate their operations, as it releases a series of key metrics it believes show the sport is in “healthy shape”, including posting a small profit.
In an extensive interview with Betsy, RV CEO Aaron Morrison revealed what he said is a much-improved financial state, stating his organisation will record a small surplus despite a slight dip in wagering and tough economic conditions.
Morrison also revealed:
- That he is a strong supporter of Moonee Valley’s redevelopment and while racing will “definitely” return to The Valley, more work needs to be done before the club can once again host the Cox Plate and Group 1 racing
- He wants to increase prize money on the back of a significant restructure of RV
- Said Victorian racing is the country’s most-watched and most-punted-on racing product
- Backed the introduction of big-name music acts to Victoria’s major race days
- Vowed to make Racing Victoria “as transparent as possible” as it navigates the racing political landscape
- Conceded RV could lose up to $10 million thanks to new government gambling regulations if it cannot offset the losses
- Confirmed RV is considering what to do with land it owns outside Melbourne which, if rezoned, could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars
- Said RV is looking at ways to grow revenue outside racing
- Wants to explore running more races in time slots favoured by punters, including more twilight meetings
- Expects Flemington to finalise its plans to retain training imminently
- Backed the state of Victoria’s tracks, saying that some criticism “undoubtedly” helped reduce the number of cancelled meetings
Making money
RV will post a surplus of just under $1 million which follows years of million-dollar losses.
Figures released by RV show Victorian thoroughbred racing generates more than $7.4 billion in annual turnover, with the Melbourne Cup alone delivering a record $247 million and the Melbourne Cup Carnival delivering $727.4 million.
It also revealed more than 1 million people attend Victorian racing annually, including over 600,000 during the Spring Racing Carnival, which generates $785 million in economic activity. Melbourne Cup Day remains racing’s biggest national event, engaging 11.7 million Australians.
“We’re really happy with the results and proud of the results that we’ve achieved,” Morrison said.
“I want to be able to talk confidently about that so that our stakeholders understand some of the results that we’re delivering on their behalf. I want them to feel proud about the position that the racing industry is in.
“I think we’ve got real positive momentum going into the spring.
“We’re the most watched, the most wagered on and the most attended, and we put up a bunch of statistics around that to demonstrate it. I think that’s really important for people to understand because, at times, there can be a narrative that’s very different to that.”
From concerts to converts: Racing’s push for younger fans
Morrison backed the major Melbourne clubs’ booking of major international music acts in a bid to increase engagement among what had been a lagging demographic in racing – younger attendees, especially women.
“The fact that people are coming back to the track in obviously greater numbers. The fact that we’ve got more female participation, more female attendance – under-35s in particular. Those are the sort of standout trends that we’re seeing at the moment,” he said.
“But just the sheer number of people that are showing interest in wanting to come to the spring carnival and get back to the races. All of that is, I think, made possible because of some things that we’ve been doing over the last couple of years.”
There have been murmurs of discontent about the money spent booking the likes of Robbie Williams for the Melbourne Cup, an argument with which Morrison does not agree.
“I think it’s a way to get people to engage with the product, and then hopefully fall in love with racing in a deeper sense, in an ongoing sense,” he said.
“[Big acts on racedays have] become socially cool amongst the younger generation. I’ve got 17-year-old and 19-year-old daughters, and they’re all of a sudden really interested in racing and going to these events.
“But over time, what you want to do is convert those people more deeply down through the funnel to become more engaged.”
As further pressure is placed on wagering returns – and forecasts predict that money racing makes from punting could drop even further – Morrison said racing needs to investigate ways to make money beyond its traditional streams.
“We recognised pretty early that we needed to look at our own business model. You fight so hard for every dollar coming in; you can’t afford to be wasteful,” he said.
“You need to be efficient in terms of how you run the business, and I flagged that we were going to do some pretty significant restructuring and reset of the business model, and we’ve done that. I’m really proud to speak about that. It’s taken a lot of effort, and it’s been really impactful.
“We can’t just rely on a stable or declining wagering market. We’ve got to do what we can to increase our share of that market or find new sources of revenue and look at the operating structure of the industry.’’
‘I’d like to get back to increasing prize money’
Only recently has the arms race of sorts between Victoria and NSW over prize money ceased.
But Morrison said that, as the administrator looks at restructuring its cost base, it still aspires to increase prize money.
“I’d like to get back to increasing prize money over time in a sensible way. And, like, we talk a lot about prize money, but realistically, the way to look at prize money is that it’s the wages and salaries of trainers and jockeys, and its return on investment for owners who have taken the risk in funding,” he said.
“I think it’s something that we’re looking to try and grow and increase. At the same time, that’s where I’d like to put some dollars directly, but we also need to be investing in and growing the industry as well.”
‘We had poor relationships, so we’ve invested time’
The political landscape in Victorian racing has traditionally been unstable, and that remains true today on several fronts.
When pushed on how RV was dealing with the numerous stakeholders it needs to please, Morrison said he had made a deliberate effort to be forthright about his administration’s wins and losses.
“I think, you know, one thing that’s ever-present is the politics of racing. They haven’t gone away. I think maybe just a different approach that we’ve tried to adopt, which has been to be more transparent and engaging, and that’s had some success,” he said.
“I think it’s brought some stability in certain parts. I’d like to think that we’re a far more transparent and engaging organisation than we’ve been in recent years. But I think we’ve got more support from stakeholders than we had at that period of time, and that’s obviously been really important.
“You’ve heard me say this before – a bit of a cliché – but the people who put the blood, sweat and tears into the industry, valuing them as the most important.”
Morrison, however, conceded RV initially had ground to make up when it came to important relationships.
‘’We recognise there was instability. There wasn’t a lot of confidence and support in Racing Victoria. We had poor relationships, so we’ve invested time in trying to listen to different stakeholders and engage them more, give them more transparency around our decision-making and why we do certain things.”
‘We ended up actually growing our income’
While wagering declined 2.9 per cent in the last financial year, it came after RV reduced the number of race days.
Morrison said that, once those reduced race days were accounted for, wagering increased slightly.
RV’s data shows that $7.39 billion was punted on Victorian racing last financial year.
“We still end up as the number one wagering product in the country. But if I look at the fact that we actually took about 160 races out of the program last year deliberately because we wanted to better match the supply and demand dynamics … if you adjust for that, turnover per race was actually up 0.7 per cent. And I think that is a really great stat,” he said.
“Then, off the back of that … we ended up actually growing our income because we made some changes to the race fields framework.”
‘I was winning, and then all of a sudden you’re not getting them anymore’
Morrison, a punter himself, said RV’s finances are reliant on bookmakers offering bonus bets.
Data released by RV showed a worrying drop in the 2025-26 period.
“I have had a reasonable period of time where I was winning, and then all of a sudden you’re not getting them anymore. That’s the dynamic that people are experiencing out there,” he said.
“We used to talk a lot about that key relationship between free-bet turnover and total turnover, and we’ve seen free-bet turnover declining quite a bit over the last couple of years.
“It was down 8 per cent.
“I think that sort of just reflects the pressures that the wagering operators are under and them rationalising their business, being more focused and targeted. It’s arguably still impactful, even though it’s down 8 per cent, because they’re targeting the offers more specifically.”
Bracing for a $10 million hit
RV, like every racing state, is bracing for a loss in revenue following the federal government’s changes to gambling advertising.
“I think I said it could be sort of $10 million-ish as an impact. What I still need to work through is that there could be some positive benefit, potentially, because of the fact we do own these media assets that have the benefit of a carve-out from some of the general broadcast restrictions,” he said.
Mergers: ‘I’m aware of conversations that have been happening’
Club mergers continue to be a major talking point in the corridors of power around Melbourne and, if successful, could save the industry an astonishing $50 million a year, Betsy can reveal.
Morrison was at pains to ensure that any mention of mergers in this interview included references to clubs retaining their “history and identity”.
A proposal from the Melbourne Racing Club to merge with Moonee Valley was rejected this year, but rumours of other arrangements involving a number of clubs continue.
“I’m aware of conversations that have been happening, and, you know, to varying degrees of success, and we’ve been having conversations with the clubs as well,” he said.
“We’ve been sitting down with the clubs over the last year or so, trying to identify opportunities for us to help clubs actually look at their own business models.
“It’s very difficult because people start by assuming that a merger means you lose your identity or you lose your club. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I think there are structures that could be created where you can still preserve your identity, your heritage and your connection with your members and stakeholders.”
Morrison argues that if the clubs merged their back-of-house operations, they could achieve significant savings and gain greater leverage when renegotiating multimillion-dollar deals.
“We’ve just got all this duplication through the whole system at the moment. I believe with some significant metro mergers, savings could be $40 million to $50 million; it could be huge,” he said.
“If you think about all of the different layers, you’re starting with basic shared services: finance, IT, HR and procurement. Why would you have three or four different versions of that? There’s a cost in all of those things. There’s a cost in duplicated marketing, communications and media budgets. You start to add all of these numbers up. There’s a cost in duplicated or separate procurement of similar services. You’ve got competing beverage contracts.
“If you sat down and said, as a single industry, we’ll go out and tender for that, you would have efficiencies and growth benefits.
“I think clubs are concerned that they will lose their identity. But clubs can keep their membership. They can keep their identity, but just have a different underlying structure.”
Punt later, and smarter
Moves to schedule more races in twilight or night timeslots are popular with punters – and RV’s bank balance – according to the administrator’s data.
But they have also proved unpopular with some participants, given how early training begins.
“I think, again, it’s all part of having mature conversations based around data and evidence, and bringing people into the decision-making process,” Morrison said.
“I would say someone like Troy [Corstens], who heads up the ATA, understands some of these strategies and decisions that we might make a lot more than before. Because we’ve taken him through the rationale: we’re trying to chase more dollars from punters, putting the product on when they want to punt, and generating more wagering turnover that funds the industry, so that we can invest that back into supporting them.”
‘It’s a different relationship’
The rivalry between Victoria and NSW is long and intense, especially given some of the success stories from Sydney’s push into the spring.
However, Morrison appeared alongside interim Racing NSW CEO Graeme Hinton at a recent Senate inquiry, working together in a bid to ensure any changes to gambling in Australia did not leave massive funding shortfalls.
Both received strong reviews. Morrison said he was unsure whether recent events meant a thawing in relations.
“It’s a different relationship that I would have with Graeme versus, say, Peter [V’landys] and with other previous administrators in Victoria,” he said.
“Some part of it comes down to your personal relationship. So far, we work really well together. We’ve got a good relationship. Where does that go long term? I’m not sure, but we certainly rallied together around this particular matter, and that probably reflects how important it is. You’ve got to put some of those other differences aside for something as big and significant as this.”
‘That’s where we are weak compared to other sports and codes’
So worried was Morrison about the impact of Canberra’s inquiry, he spent considerable time personally lobbying key politicians and their staff.
“I was pretty keen to make sure that people understood that we were sticking up for them. It really had the potential to go pear-shaped for a period of time there. In the week immediately following the Senate inquiry, it was pretty bleak,” he said.
“I think we were happy with the outcome versus where it was headed, but it’ll still be impactful.”
Morrison agreed racing needs to start being more proactive in pressing the benefits of racing to those in power.
“I think absolutely. Racing Victoria does get out there and do a lot of heavy lifting, and sometimes that’s on behalf of Australian racing, and fortunately we had New South Wales aligned strongly with us, and the two biggest codes were representing Australian racing very strongly. But I actually think that is a role that Racing Australia should play more effectively, and that’s where we are weak compared to other sports and codes.”
‘I think some of the criticism has also been helpful’
For years, RV was criticised over the state of some of its country tracks and the number of meetings cancelled at the last minute.
Data now says the number of meetings cancelled has dropped, and participants have also suggested communication about affected meetings has finally improved.
Although some at RV were upset about media reporting on track issues, Morrison said it might have actually helped.
“I think some of the criticism has also been helpful. Sometimes it’s good to have a mirror shone in front of your face and go, ‘Actually, we can be better at being more communicative and transparent. We should be, and so we have been,’” he said.
The Valley’s future
Is there a guarantee that the Cox Plate will ever be run at Moonee Valley again?
Morrison said that, while there is no doubt racing will return to The Valley, he could not categorically say when the Cox Plate would return.
“That’s the intent, right? So I’d say that at the outset, the intent is to see that the Cox Plate goes back to Moonee Valley, which has been the home of that event for more than 150 years,” he said.
“We’ve made it pretty clear that we need to be assured that the facilities are going to be appropriate for an event that significant. It’s not just an event for Moonee Valley; it’s part of the brand of Victoria and Victorian racing. It’s a really important part of our spring racing carnival and our overall heritage.”
Morrison said, however, that doubts about the Cox Plate’s home will remain until RV is handed the full suite of details around how The Valley’s future facilities will look.
“I think, to be fair, what has shifted is that there is a bit more uncertainty that’s crept into the Moonee Valley plans, which has made us take more notice and then engage and go, hang on, we’ve got to make sure that everything is going to be ready for an event of that type and magnitude,” he said.
“We don’t have a proposal for the facilities and infrastructure that they want to deliver. We just don’t. We don’t have that in a temporary sense or a permanent sense yet. The more time that passes, the more nervous you get.
“What I do have comfort about is that the track is coming along, and the stewards’ towers are all up, and the stables area is going to be good. We’re ticking off all of those things, but the customer facilities and amenities are where the uncertainty is.
“Because the more time passes, they just get more and more exposed to cost escalation and general economic conditions.
“There can’t be too much more time that passes before we start getting some more confidence about the plan and the outlook. But it’s clearly going to be a couple of years before they have a permanent facility, whatever that looks like. I still don’t know what that is.
“Will there be racing at Moonee Valley? There will be, but it’s around its future racing. I think it’s probably fair to say there is still uncertainty about it, but not uncertainty that can’t be overcome. At this point, we are working with the club to make sure that we stay close to what they’re proposing.”
$400 million payday?
RV is quietly working to maximise what could be a massive payday.
The administrator owns a large piece of land in north-west Melbourne, not far from Inglis Junction.
While Morrison said it was a long-term strategic play, Betsy is aware of the work behind the scenes to one day cash in on their investment.
Morrison confirmed RV has been in discussions with the local council, politicians and developers about the site’s future use, with RV no longer looking at using the site as a racing facility.
“It’s still designated green wedge, but it sits right inside where there’ve been plans for the next outer ring road. It literally cuts right through the top of our site. At the moment, you’ve got two differing views publicly from different sides of politics in Victoria. You have the Labor government … that came out and said they’re not supportive of further urban sprawl just yet. Whereas the Coalition has said the opposite. It actually is supportive and thinks that needs to be accelerated. So right now we’re kind of in between that.”
While Betsy has been told the final value could be between $300 million and $400 million, Morrison would say only that, if rezoned, RV estimates the land could be worth “hundreds of millions”.
‘I think it’s important to have a major horse presence in metropolitan areas’
Betsy has previously reported plans for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Flemington’s training base.
Morrison said he expects Flemington to finalise its plans to retain training shortly.
“I think it’s important to have a major horse presence in metropolitan areas. I think that’s important for the sport. It’s the number one track in Australia that everyone wants to race on and win races on.
“They want to train at the track as well, at the best track. I think it’s important from an attraction perspective as well. In terms of getting interstate participants to continue to come down to Victoria, it’s important that they have a base they can use. It’s like wanting to be adjacent to the MCG and train on the MCG.”
Funding for the project is expected to come from the Victorian Racing Club, RV and the state government.
