Horse Racing: Unified Tote may soon be a reality

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If things go as per the plan envisaged by various turf authorities conducting horse racing in different states in India, race-goers may soon get to bet on a countrywide Tote system. K N Dhunjibhoy, chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) Ltd, revealed at a special press briefing held at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on Wednesday afternoon.

"All the turf clubs have agreed in principle," Dhunjibhoy said, "Santosh, our general manager for Tote, is already on the job. He will create a road map which I will submit at the next meeting of the TAI (Turf Authorities of India) to be held on May 22 at Ooty."

When asked for the time frame, Dhunjibhoy expressed hope that the ambitious project should be ready to roll out from the Pune monsoon meeting beginning in July.

It may be noted that the goods and services tax (GST) imposed on betting at the highest rate of 28% has virtually crippled the racing industry, and all race clubs have been reeling under financial duress. It is expected that with the collective all India volumes in betting pools likely to swell with unified Tote, the effect of the exorbitant GST may be diluted to some extent as it is observed punters tend to bet more and more when the pool size becomes astronomical. The recent example of the combined jackpot pool swelling to Rs 1.40 crore (including the brought forward amount), despite close to 50% tax deduction, being the case in point.

"We already have a software that will be updated for this purpose," explained Santosh, "right now we have identified eight pools like win, place, second horse pool, quinella, forecast, tanala, jackpot and treble which can be commingled together."

The RWITC has also taken a decision to enhance the stake money by Rs 1 lakh per race, for each class and category, with immediate effect for the remainder of the Mumbai season. From the forthcoming Pune season, there will be slight reduction in the stakes for classes IV & V, but a substantial increase for other classes, especially class I races and those reserved for 2/3 year olds who will be allotted Rs 690,000 per race.

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