Mysore pulls panic button

By Sharan Kumar
August 24, 2004

The Mysore Race Club, which has been worst hit by the turnover tax levied on the club operated totalizators pools, has pulled the panic button.

The Mysore Race Club enjoyed a great deal of patronage in that the government of Karnataka had fixed the compounding tax at Rs 35 lakh while it stood at around Rs 10 crores for Bangalore Turf Club. Now with the levying of a uniform four percent tax, MRC will be hit hard as they will have shell out money to the tune of Rs 4 crores! Mysore Race Club has increased its racing programme by nearly 30 days in the last couple of years, and they will be incapable of running the show in its present form.  

Mysore Race Club's paddock view

At a meeting of the managing committee that had the past chairmen of the club participating, it has been decided to dispense with the mini winter and summer seasons and run only its regular season, which runs from August through October. The other major decision has been not to make divisions of races and restrict the race card to just seven races per day besides cutting 25 per cent stake money from all races.

Bangalore Turf Club 

Though Bangalore Turf Club also has been hit hard, they were already paying the government a composite tax of Rs 10 cores and under the new measure; they will have to pay an additional Rs 10 crores if the current betting trend were to be maintained. A staggering amount of Rs 500 crores passes through the betting counters of the club. The last decade had seen a significant increase in the betting on the club pools as about 94 percent of the total amount collected on win, place and second horse pools was returned to the punters in the form of dividend. BTC has affected an increase of two percent on its commission since the beginning of this month. 

With prudent management of its resources and a minimum reduction in the number of race days, BTC can still manage the show at the existing level of stakes provided there is a will on the part of the powers-that-be. Spoiled by the increased revenues to the club, the authorities had spent money at will, caring a damn for public opinion. Though the members are not entitled to share the profits and legal opinion was against giving any gifts to members, they overcame the rule by stating that they were giving mementoes to the members on the occasion of its 80 odd year of existence! And that was to the tune of Rs 20 lakh. As it is the members who pay a subscription of Rs 250 enjoy a benefit in excess of over Rs 25,000 as per the Racing Commission report of the government.

There is a feeling that the government, which is aware of the way the club is functioning, might impose an administrator/chairman on the club to oversee its operations. The name making the rounds is that of a former Member of Parliament and a man who was known, as no nonsense man during his stint as a government officer. This is a move which would come in for lot of support because there is total disenchantment in the way the elected managing committee members have been behaving and wasting money generated from public to satisfy their whims and fancies giving scant regard to established norms. With the VAT coming into force in the next six months and four per cent being the minimum that can be levied under its regime, the racing authorities need to devise ways of circumventing the problem. 

"Vidhana Soudha" - Karnataka Government's Legislative Assembly House

Mysore Race Club's racing track

Vision 2000 was the name given to establish Mysore as a full-fledged racing center. There is a nucleus of about 400 horses in Mysore and there are more than 20 licensed racehorse trainers. The club owes a responsibility not only to the professionals but also to everyone involved in the sport. One did not visualize the vision going blur in just four years!

The 30 days of extra racing at Mysore has helped all the race clubs in the country survive a financial crisis. Unfortunately, the other turf clubs and the breeders who have benefited from the increased racing activity have done nothing to come to the rescue of the club. Everyone wants a product without paying for it!

The existing royalty of 23 percent is unrealistic and the other turf clubs need to give an increased return to the clubs actually running the show. Only Hyderabad Race Club is very prompt in paying the royalty to other clubs while a couple of clubs are guilty of totally misusing their pull to ensure that they don’t pay anything at all! Unless there is honesty and transparency in the way things are handled, things look very bleak for racing.