Entain Edition – July 2025
Welcome to July’s Entain Edition
Tomorrow marks the end of the 2024-25 New Zealand racing season — the second full racing season of Entain Australia and New Zealand delivering racing and sports wagering to New Zealand.
The last two years and two months have brought many changes and improvements to every aspect of the betting experience for Kiwis, and now — with the ‘legislative net’ betting law changes passed late last month — the building blocks are very much in place for all parties involved in the strategic partnership to thrive. We will continue to evolve and innovate to capitalise on the opportunities that our own improvements and the legislative changes afford us.
Tomorrow also marks the first full month for Entain Australia and New Zealand’s Interim CEO Andrew Vouris. Andrew has already visited New Zealand, meeting members of our team, as well as several stakeholders, and you can learn more about him below.
In the remainder of this month’s Entain Edition, we review the Industry Excellence Awards, provide a glimpse into the last 12 to 18 months of transformation for Trackside, reflect on the changing preferences of race betting, update the TAB Racing Club ahead of a big spring, and meet Nick Conway, General Manager – Trading.
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Introducing Andrew Vouris
We were thrilled to welcome Andrew Vouris to Entain Australia and New Zealand as Interim CEO at the start of July. Andrew brings 17 years of experience in wagering, digital innovation and customer-focused growth, having held executive roles across both large-scale operations and start-ups in the sector. He’s also a lifelong racing fan — his first job in the industry was working trackside repairing divots.
Andrew’s leadership philosophy is clear: people first, then product, then profit — underpinned by a culture that aims to “win, but not at all costs”. It’s a mindset that values integrity, long-term trust, and putting customers at the centre of everything we do.
Andrew spent his very first day as Interim CEO in New Zealand. He also joined the Entain team and racing community at the Industry Excellence Awards in late June. He was inspired by the energy in the room and the talent coming through the sport.
Following this passing of the legislative net last month, Andrew’s number one priority is winning back revenue from black market operators — there is now $180 million of revenue, heavily concentrated towards sports betting, that New Zealand TAB needs to win back. As the strategic partnership between Entain and TAB NZ continues to grow, Andrew is focused on delivering long-term outcomes for the New Zealand racing industry — and building on the strong foundations already in place.
Industry Excellence Awards results
The brightest talents in New Zealand racing were recognised in a fantastic ceremony at Tote On Ascot at Ellerslie Racecourse last month, with the second edition of the Industry Excellence Awards, powered by Entain.
Leading New Zealand trainer Sam Bergerson claimed the supreme Entain Excellence Award — open to all category winners — and the nine category winners emphasised the strength in emerging leaders under the age of 40 that we are lucky enough to have here in New Zealand.
Read more about the winners and the event at entaingroup.co.nz/news.
Changing landscape of fixed odds and tote
Racing is steeped in history, but it doesn’t stand still, particularly when it comes to betting. One of the major changes we’ve seen in the past 15 to 20 years is customer preference between tote betting and fixed odds.
While the win or place pools on a New Zealand meeting might be smaller than what they were a decade ago, there’s an overwhelming reason for that. With fixed odds providing certainty of odds several days before a meeting, and the ability to place multis across several races, we have seen a complete flip in the proportion of betting between tote and fixed odds.
The most dramatic shift has been in win and place betting, where there are like for like products. In 2010, more than 90% of win/place turnover on a race was through the tote. In 2025, it is the complete opposite with 90% of win/place turnover on a race being bet on fixed odds.
This trend is less pronounced for multi betting (doubles, trebles, quaddies and multis) where the fixed odds share is currently only 60% and even less so for single race exotic bet types like quinellas, trifectas and First4s, where the tote still holds a majority share at 75%, even with the recent addition of Same Race Multis.
What is clear is that customers are finding that our fixed odds products are increasingly meeting their needs and that the future of tote betting requires innovation, significant changes and focus. We are committed to operating tote pools on NZ racing while it makes sense to do so and we will work with our commingling partners to ensure that our tote offering on international racing continues to meet the needs of our customers.
Trackside – shaping the future
In past Entain Editions, we have shared recent enhancements to Trackside, the outstanding broadcasting arm that Entain is proud to operate.
Below, you can learn more about the Transformation of Trackside over the last 12 months, which highlights how far Trackside has come, from enhanced graphics and wagering integrations to world-leading content integrations and optimised race day programming.
Filly with special purpose joins TAB Racing Club
There’s a new addition to the TAB Racing Club, but this filly is a little different. Catwalk Queen has been donated to the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust by Nick and Nicky White, of Kaha Nui Farm. The Per Incanto filly will be raced by The CatWalk Collective syndicate formed by Entain and 25 loyal CatWalk supporters, with a portion of all of the filly’s winnings to be donated to CatWalk to progress their research. Learn more at LinkedIn.
Several other TRC runners are starting to appear with spring racing just around the corner. In Haste looks likely to be the first TRC 3-year-old to be seen at the races after a solid 2nd at the Avondale trials last week. She’ll head to the Taupo trials next week, before kicking off her campaign at Taupo on 17 August with a medium-term target of the Gold Trail Stakes at Ellerslie on 6 September. Three other TRC 3-year-olds — Adoration, Dorothea and Celtic Tycoon — are also being set for next week’s Te Rapa trials.
Moving to the TRC standardbreds, No More Dreaming had his first trial earlier this month, finishing 3rd, as the sales topper from the 2024 NZB Standardbred sales in Christchurch takes his steps towards a race debut.
In Haste, with strapper Nicole Weatherley, ahead of her trial at Avondale last week.
News in brief: Entain has been proud to support the Pearl Series since our strategic partnership began in 2023. If you have a filly born in 2023, now is the time to make sure you register her for the Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series Bonus scheme to be eligible for bonuses throughout their career. Visit pearlseries.nzthoroughbred.co.nz before entries close tomorrow.Follow Entain Australia and New Zealand on LinkedIn to keep up to date with the latest updates in and around our organisation.
