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One of Sydney's leading bookmakers, Colin Tidy, said his turnover had dropped a staggering 500 per cent because of the equine influenza (EI) crisis which has shattered racing in New South Wales and Queensland.
Speaking on Saturday from the Randwick betting auditorium where around 500 punters turned up to bet on the Turnbull Stakes meeting at Flemington, Tidy confirmed the dramatic hit that EI had dealt his business since it crippled NSW racing on August 25.
"In our position it will be a 500 per cent drop in turnover for sure because the bulk of business is on Sydney racing whereas the interstate bookmakers wouldn't be affected as badly," Tidy said.
"I just want to pay my expenses and my staff at the moment and I'll be tickled pink if I can get through the next three or four months finishing square."
Jeff Pendlebury, who was one of more than 30 bookmakers on hand at Randwick, said the effects of the outbreak on his business were massive.
"It's obviously had a huge effect on us, there are no Sydney race meetings," Pendlebury said.
"Normally on a Saturday meeting in Sydney there would be five bookmakers betting on Melbourne, today everybody is holding bets on it and there's hardly anybody here."
However bookmaker David Emanuel said he had enjoyed a purple patch during the crisis.
"I'm in a unique position, I've got a lot of phone clients and they've been betting more than ever since EI's been on, so I think I'd be one of the few bookies who have actually held and won more over this period than I would have if there was normal racing," Emanuel said.
Leading Sydney bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse said he had suffered only a slight drop in business during thecrisis.
"My turnover hasn't suffered so much because mine is more of a wholesale business than a retail business and so my biggest concern is that we will lose racing fans down the track," Waterhouse said.
"I'm just pleased to see friends here at the races but it most certainly is a poor shadow of what a race meeting would be, but still it's good to be here."
Waterhouse said a few results went his way on the day, including Devil Moon, who started at $14 when winning the Group One Turnbull Stakes.
Things got worse for Sydney racing industry participants overnight with the news that five horses at Rosehill were confirmed to have EI, a week after all horses at the Sydney track were vaccinated against the virus.
AAP
