V’landys, who runs Racing NSW when not at work running rugby league, is not just a supporter of gambling. He is an evangelical. Gambling is not, in his view, a necessary evil that accompanies sport but a welcome and enjoyable part of it.
Millions share that view and have fun gambling responsibly (which means not losing quite enough of your money, over the long term, to get into serious trouble).
V’landys sees gambling as the financial underpinning that makes big sport sustainable, and therefore new gamblers must be recruited.
At racing functions, like Father Christmas he hands out betting vouchers to young adults newly exposed to the sport. If it works – that is, if those young adults enjoy the experience so much they come back and start losing their own money – it meets the management’s financial goals.
This neat circularity has created the racing industry. Your betting habit, as long as you are a net loser, pays for the spectacle. But league is not racing, and until it recognises the difference it will keep generating dollars to pour into a hole of its own making.
This week, the ARLC announced a proposed expansion of its gambling activities into the United States. Online betting apps were only legalised in New York in January 2022, and they already have one million users. More than 100 million people gambled on last month’s Super Bowl.
“I think it has the potential to be one of the really big new revenue generators for the game,” V’landys was reported as saying. “I think if done right they will love the game, and we can also look at doing it in conjunction with taking a game to the United States. We want to get it right and it has to be done intelligently alongside our vision. Basketball is the No.1 sports-betting product in Australia because it has so many exotic bets. We’re hoping we can start some time this year, and we’ve got a number of partners we’re talking to.”
Increased gambling revenue helped the ARLC make a $43 million surplus last year. Put another way, the league-watching population’s expenditure shifted from buying boots and mouthguards and registering for clubs to losing on bets. League’s response? Find new populations to tax.
Rugby league’s fate is fast looking like the NFL, watched by many but played by an ever-diminishing gladiatorial fraction. And it will have itself to blame.
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