by Kyle Galley
This Monday's (December 9) Warragul trots meeting will proceed without any on-course totalisator windows operating.
Wagering provider Tabcorp has confirmed it has removed its on-course betting service at Victorian trots and greyhound race meetings from Sunday, November 30.
While some country and Melbourne gallops meets will retain TAB ticket sellers until next July via a funding deal with Racing Victoria Limited, harness and greyhound meets will become the domain of licenced bookmakers only, a throwback to the early days of racing before legalised tote betting was introduced.
The long-standing Victorian Racing Industry joint venture had required Tabcorp to provide an on-course cash service at all Victorian race meetings.
That venture expired in August and was renewed without any requirement to service race patrons via tote windows on-course.
A grace period until November 30 was subsequently added to not impact the spring racing carnival gallops.
Tote windows have been part of the fabric of race meets at Logan Park for decades, from the time of the Totemobile double-decker bus in the 1940s.
The Gippsland racing industry even operated its own betting outfit, the Gippsland Regional Tote, to service race meets and help fund local race clubs in the 1980s.
While tote investments and attendances on-track have continued to decline over recent years, there is also nowhere near the numbers of licenced bookmakers in Victoria than there were at their peak many years ago
Very few harness and greyhound meets in Victoria are currently serviced by the "satchel swingers", meaning some fixtures could see no betting options available on-course.
Most punter's betting transactions these days take place on their smartphones via a wagering provider app, hence the decision to remove TAB operators from quieter race meets.
Patrons attending a race meet would now need to open an account and download a betting provider app to their smartphone to bet with tote odds while on-course, should no bookmaker be on track.
"As part of evolution, we will be removing terminals which are manned by TAB staff at Victorian harness and greyhound racetracks - because customers have told us they want to bet digitally," a Tabcorp spokesperson said in a statement released this week.
Warragul Harness Racing Club expects to have a bookmaker in attendance at its race meeting on Monday, as it has done for some years.
No doubt affected race clubs could negotiate for a fee a "one-off" TAB service on tracks for their feature Cup event, given that some ticket sellers will still be retained to work the metropolitan horse racing circuit.