Entain Australia and New Zealand (Entain ANZ) has opted to shut down the TAB Racing Club, a racehorse ownership experience programme.

The decision comes only a year after Racing Club was set up, with Entain ANZ stating that the business case for the programme doesn’t weigh up against the costs.

According to the operator, the Australia and New Zealand division of UK-based multinational Entain, the TAB Racing Club was costing around NZ$2.5m (approximately £1.2m/€1.3m), offsetting the some-18,000 Kiwi customers who used it.

The firm has mapped out a plan to shut down the club. The remaining experiences will continue up until the New Zealand Cup Week in Christchurch in November, while it is also beginning to sell the club’s horses subject to independent appraisal and animal welfare standards.

Andrew Vouris, CEO of Entain ANZ, explained the decision as a ‘disciplined and responsible’ one that allows Entain “to get back to basics – selling bets and delivering strong returns to the New Zealand racing industry”.

He continued: “We are focused on our core business of responsibly selling bets and creating innovative products, while ensuring the horses are well cared for with their new owners, and our customers enjoy the experiences they’ve already secured.

“This decision is about discipline, focus, and doing what’s right for the long term – winning, but not at all costs.”

Entain’s NZ status unchanged

The NZ Racing Club was launched as a New Zealand version of the Ladbrokes Racing Club, an Australian initiative organised as part of the Ladbrokes Australia brand.

Like its New Zealand counterpart, the Ladbrokes Racing Club was shut down back in February two years after it opened back in 2023. The promise of both clubs was to give participants the experience of racehorse ownership.

Commenting at the time of the Australian shutdown, former CEO of Entain Australia, Dean Shannon, explained that the initiative was ‘not immune to the rising cost of operating pressure currently affecting the wagering sector’.

In New Zealand, an ulterior motive may be the lack of competition, with Entain holding the sole rights to operate legal sports betting as operator of the state-owned TAB under a 25 year agreement.

Recent legislative changes to the Racing Industry Act 2020 further reaffirmed Entain’s position and led to overseas firms like Betfair – operated in Australia and New Zealand by Crown Resorts – withdrawing from the market.

This lack of competition may have made setting its brand out from the crowd via fan engagement initiatives like the Racing Club less of an appealing expense for Entain, which like all global gaming PLCs has its bottom lines to think about as operating costs rise and taxation looks set to increase across various markets.