Winston Peters says the TAB/Entain deal appears ‘too good to be true’

TAB deal with UK betting company Entain doesn't add up for Winston Peters. Photo / Whakaata Māori

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the TAB deal with UK betting company Entain doesn’t stack up.

The 25-year partnership will reverse falling revenues for racing and deliver at least $900 million in guaranteed funding for the industry over the next five years – at no cost to the taxpayer.

But the former racing minister is not convinced.

“What you’ve got is the statements being made that it’s all great and all good but we are losing control of a critical part of the industry, namely the TAB, and we will do for 25 years,” Peters says.

“The real question is: has this company lost all its mojo? Why can’t we do these things ourselves like we used to do in so many other areas and used to do here as well?”

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters adds his view on the sale of the TAB to a UK company. Photo / Alex Burton

Aside from the funding, $10 million will go towards in sponsorship for racing carnivals, a TAB rebrand, updated facilities, and two-year employment guarantees for all workers.

It comes as a 2018 review recommended the need for a strategic partnership or the TAB would fall over within three years, according to the Government.

Yet Peters says it’s “too good to be true”.

“There’s a lot of questions here which, on a blackboard, there are people sitting down who don’t know what they’re talking about, needs to be analysed out before we come to a conclusion. That’s what’s not to like.”

Bilingual road sign suggestions. Photo / Waka Kotahi

Peters also chimed in on the bilingual signs saga, saying that roads need to be fixed, not have their signs changed.

“How on earth are you going to make these signs work?

“Up north for example, over 1000 single-lane bridges, potholes everywhere, bad roading – I think if you ask the Māori up there ‘Do you want the roads and potholes fixed right here right now’ or a name change, I’m pretty certain they’ll tell you what they want.

“But of course at the universities and the leafy suburbs of this country where some of our people live, they want something else.”