Former West Australian Liberal treasurer Mike Nahan says governments waited too long to sell the country's last state-owned betting agency.
This week the state government announced it would terminate the sale of the WA TAB, which would continue to be operated by Racing and Wagering WA (RWWA).
It said on Monday it was unable to find an offer that met the government's "policy objectives" after a three-year search for a suitable buyer.
"What we should have done is, like the other states – much earlier than 10 years ago – effect the sale," Mr Nahan said.
"We in WA – both the Liberal-National government and now the McGowan [Labor] government – waited too long, held the asset and it's deteriorating in value.
"Now we struggle to get an alternative owner, and we're going to struggle to fund the industry and the owners out of the proceeds of the ownership of the TAB."
Six-year process
In 2018, Premier Mark McGowan's government announced plans to sell the asset, despite being staunchly against the idea while in opposition.
It came after former premier Colin Barnett failed to finalise the sale before losing government in 2017, despite controlling both houses of state parliament.
"We were told back in 2015/16 when we began this process that the gaming market was changing fundamentally and the market share was declining," Mr Nahan said.
"They were locked into bricks and mortar, particularly in their franchise outlets that were having to compete against online [and] the gambling industry was shifting from horses and dogs to everything else online," he said.
"And [we were told] if we retained the ownership of the TAB it was going to decrease in value and our ability to fund the industry, the horses, dogs and trots would decline.
"Six years is a long time, markets change, but I don't think the fundamentals of the deterioration of the value of the TAB in state hands will change, I think it's going to continue to deteriorate."
Disappointment for peak body
In 2018 when Mr McGowan's government first touted the sale, it revealed plans to allocate 35 per cent of the proceeds to a dedicated racing industry infrastructure fund.
The Country Racing Association of WA, which represents 25 clubs from Kununurra, in the state's north, to Esperance in the south, said it was disappointed the sale couldn't get over the line.
President Kevin Scott said negotiations had led to an arrangement that would have left the racing sector, including country race clubs, "no worse off".
"Governments really don't want to own a betting outlet in any state of Australia, and we thought that we did have the right thing in place for our industry to go forward if it was sold at the price asked by government," he said.
Mr Scott said an upside of the sale being discontinued was that it might provide more certainty for the sector moving forward.
"We now have a clear view that the TAB is not going to be sold so we'll go on business as usual," he said.
"The TAB in WA is a very profitable business and it can well and truly look after the WA racing industry — there's no doubt, as long as the government doesn't come along in two or three years and say, 'We want to sell it again'."
Club chair 'very relieved'
The Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club is one of the larger tracks that would have been impacted by the sale of the TAB.
Chairman Harry Donald said he was pleased when the government announced it was withdrawing its sale of the state-owned betting agency.
"We were very relieved because we would find it very difficult to maintain this racetrack without this,'' he said.
"Our concern was if one of the corporate bookmakers had taken over the TAB here would they have been so generous with their funds as the government has been?"
Mr Donald said regular funds provided by the betting agency were needed to maintain the club infrastructure, including stables, stands and one of the state's only horse swimming pools.
"The track would be a huge expense … to keep a grass track growing at the edge of the desert for 12 months of the year is quite costly," he said.
"We have 100-odd stables here for trainers to train their horses, which takes a lot of upkeep as well."
Certainty for country clubs
Grants have also helped the club expand, with $1.3 million provided by RWWA last year used to build a new change room for stewards and jockeys.
While the club did have other streams of revenue, the bulk of its cash came from the TAB.
"The support we get from the government via RRWA is substantial," Mr Donald said.
"I would say that roughly 70 per cent of our funding per annum would be coming through from the body."
Carnarvon Race Club president Tom Day said the decision not to proceed with the sale would provide more certainty for the sector.
"The government and the people who were looking at buying and RWWA were always saying to us whatever we do we'll make sure that we look after racing, but of course that's one thing to say that but it's another thing to make it happen," he said.
"Although I heard the premier say that they haven't given it up all together, they're certainly not going to sell the TAB in the near future.
"So that gives us a bit of certainty in terms of being looked after in country racing."
