Million Dollar Chase Smashes Wagering Records

THE popularity of NSW greyhound racing continues to soar with last Friday's TAB Million Dollar Chase shattering the sport’s wagering records.

THE popularity of NSW greyhound racing continues to soar with last Friday night's TAB Million Dollar Chase program shattering all the sport's wagering records.

A staggering $9.4 million was invested on the Wentworth Park meeting which was headlined by Handsome Prince's sensational victory in the TAB Million Dollar Chase.

With in the vicinity of one million viewers tuning in via Channel 9 and Sky Channel, the mammoth turnover figure surpassed the sport's previous Australasian record of $7.2 million set at the 2018 Melbourne Cup meeting.

It also dwarfed the previous NSW benchmark of $6.71 million which was established just a week earlier on MDC semi-final night.

"To reach an audience in excess of one million people is an incredible result for the greyhound racing industry in NSW," said GRNSW CEO Tony Mestrov.

"Nine's coverage of the race was outstanding and to see a 400% year-on-year increase of free-to-air audience reach is really significant for us.

"The promotion and build-up had a huge impact on our wagering performance with the $9.4 million in turnover exceeding all our expectations.

"Wagering revenue drives returns to participants and we are thankful to our partners, including race sponsor TAB, for their promotion of the event – and more broadly their promotion of greyhound racing across the year, where we are seeing incredible growth."

First staged in 2018, the TAB Million Dollar Chase continues to have a profound impact on the Australian greyhound racing landscape, delivering stakeholders a renewed sense of optimism.

And while the lucrative series showcases the sport's best greyhounds on the track, it also continues to generate significant welfare outcomes and heightened media coverage off the track.

"The results of our wagering performance are driving revenue returns that are allowing us to invest in welfare outcomes at unprecedented levels," Mestrov said.

"The focus of those is our rehoming programs such as Greyhounds As Pets and the world-first Farmstay sanctuary GRNSW is developing in the Hunter Valley.

"All greyhound entry fees from the TAB Million Dollar Chase, run across 15 regional venues, have also been directly donated to the Greyhounds As Pets program, which we have done since the inception of the series, and will continue to do next year."

 

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