CAPE TOWN Racecourse and totalisator operator Phumelela Gaming & Leisure has recently concluded a simulcast and commingling agreement with UK company Attheraces, which owns the home channel and foreign broadcasting rights to most of the British racing events, Phumelela CEO Brian Mehl said in the group's latest annual report.
The effect of this agreement is that South African racing is being broadcast to British homes daily. Phumelela Gold Enterprises (a partnership between Phumelela, which operates in Gauteng, Free State, Eastern and Northern Cape, and Gold Circle, which operates in KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape) earns a percentage of the income that Attheraces generates from this broadcast.
Since June, it has been broadcasting and betting on British racing almost on a daily basis. "The turnovers being generated through this additional betting product augur well for turnover growth in 2004," Mehl said.
Last October Phumelela Gold Circle commingled into the US totalisator network on the Breeders Cup, America's flagship racing event. Testing has continued in the past year, and South African racing would be selectively broadcast to the US from this month.
Mehl said US betting turnover was expected to build up slowly, from which Phumelela Gold Circle would earn a percentage fee. The partnership was also broadcasting its signal to Pakistan on an encrypted and subscription basis. Mehl said this venture was almost at break-even point and has potential for profitable growth.
Phumelela, one of the few successful listings on the JSE Securities Exchange SA in the past two years, more than doubled attributable earnings in the year to July compared with the previous financial year. It has managed to grow turnover through promoting racing while controlling expenses and eliminating debt.
In the past year it took over the publication of Computaform, the premier racing form guide, and it is also publishing Racing Express, a three-timesa-week insert in The Citizen, with abridged inserts on the other days.
Mehl said Phumelela would continue to promote the export of its product as well as supplementing its local offerings with appropriate imported products.
Phumelela also plans to expand its retail distribution network.
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