There are 370 racing clubs racing at 352 race tracks throughout Australia. In 2016/17, these racing clubs were responsible for hosting2,636 race meetings. Overall, in excess of $18 billion was wagered on thoroughbred racing in 2016/17.
In addition to hosting race meetings, a number of racing clubs also hold trials for the purposes of providing opportunities for racehorses to prepare under race-like conditions. Additionally, a number of tracks also operate as training tracks where trainers can take their horses to prepare for racing.
Overall, thoroughbred racing clubs ran more than 19,200 races at 2,636 race meetings across the 2016/17 racing season. This equates to just over 50 race meetings per week across the nation.
Race meetings not only provide the opportunity for participants to race their horses, they also provide an important social destination for racing enthusiasts and in many regions, are an important part of the social fabric of the community. It is estimated that thoroughbred race meetings in 2016/17 attracted more than 4.2 million attendances.
In 2016/17, racing and wagering activities were responsible for the generation of more than $4,200 million in expenditure (not including the expenditure on the production and preparation of thoroughbred horses for racing). This expenditure is made up of the following elements:
+ racing customer spending on raceday and non-raceday racing club products
+ product fee payments made by wagering service providers to principal racing authorities
+ wagering taxes paid by wagering service providers
+ operational expenditure incurred by wagering service providers
+ racing customer spending off-track related to their attendance at the races
+ other non-wagering related revenues generated by principal racing authorities and racing clubs.
Note: the inclusion of wagering service provider expenditure impacts is based on the operational expenditure that is funded out of wagering activity, on thoroughbred racing, in each State or Territory and is based on data provided by Totalisator Agency Boards (TAB’S) and select corporate bookmaker organisations in Australia.