Racing: Head of TAB role hit by some hitches

The reformed TAB may be without a new chief executive until the New Year. Photo / Photosport

The reformed TAB may be without a new chief executive until the New Year.

The TAB may be the name almost all New Zealanders think of when they think horse racing but it hadn't technically existed at the corporate level for the last two years.

But last week the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) which was responsible for changing the governance and legislation around racing and sports betting in this country, but also running the betting agency, ceased to exist.

RITA has become TAB NZ, with its main responsibility being maximising the returns to the racing codes and sport from bets. That will gives them more control, with the theory a more efficient body will be able to return more money to the codes.

The codes will also have an umbrella organisation, Racing NZ, consisting of the heads of each code, to deal with larger negotiations rather than having a fragmented, code-based approach to policy making.

But the TAB NZ's hunt for a chief executive, one of the most crucial appointments in New Zealand racing history, has hit a series of snags.

A shortlist of four or five candidates was formed earlier this year but they couldn't be interviewed face-to-face because of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

With the marketplace having changed so much TAB NZ is likely to again advertise the role but the future make-up of TAB NZ's own board won't be known until at least October.

Each code will have to put up an appointee for the TAB NZ board but they will have to be approved by the Minister of Racing, and who holds that title in September won't be known until after the election.

When the minister approves the new board and they then seek applicants, reduce that to a shortlist and interview those candidates, it could be getting close to the New Year before the top job is decided.