Sam's Replacement. (Musical chairs)

[Viv Strangman]

It would seem as though WA have done the least wrong and have city central racing with atmosphere.
I think we need a messiah to lead us - maybe it should be the CEO of HRA.
Any such messiah has to get all the smart people that are out there (and it would seem many are willing to give their time) and draw up a believable strategic plan
We need to know how Melton and Menangle are going to grow our product
Are we locked into the betting dollar only or are we going to be an entertainment industry.
(I will quit as having just got out of hospital I am probably talking shit - I know we are a caring community on here so the answer is Yeah I am fine and might be able to hear again soon!)

As someone who has spent a lot of time in Perth over the years, it is so different to everywhere else. Go along to a Friday night meeting and the crowd is huge compared to anywhere else I've been to in Australasia for an everyday meeting. The only reason I could see was Pokies were restricted to the casino. If you wanted to bet in any pub in WA then the horses were your only option so it has helped maintain a grassroots following of horse racing.Turnover drives stakemoney and keeps people involved. In NZ gambling on the Pokies in the pubs is worth over two billion a year and has decimated our turnover on horse racing. Dont know how you fix that as the pokies aren't going anywhere.

[Toohard]

As someone who has spent a lot of time in Perth over the years, it is so different to everywhere else. Go along to a Friday night meeting and the crowd is huge compared to anywhere else I've been to in Australasia for an everyday meeting. The only reason I could see was Pokies were restricted to the casino. If you wanted to bet in any pub in WA then the horses were your only option so it has helped maintain a grassroots following of horse racing.Turnover drives stakemoney and keeps people involved. In NZ gambling on the Pokies in the pubs is worth over two billion a year and has decimated our turnover on horse racing. Dont know how you fix that as the pokies aren't going anywhere.

BINGO Viv! (excuse the pun). Solution to build a harness facility that has pokies? Like Melton. Even then the government comes along and takes and extra slug.