For example the report sets a target to increase the Tote Turnover to an average of 1,200 (2010 level) per race run within the lifetime of this strategy (page 28). This represents a targeted annual tote turnover of 24 million. However if the IGBs tote turnover is only 24 million in 2022 then there will be more TRACK CLOSURES. This target should at the very least be the 2007 figure of 50 million and there is a strong argument that this target should be 90 million which represents the HRIs 2016 tote turnover which the IGB matched in 2007.

In addition appendix 3 projects the allocation from Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund at 20 million. This figure seems high based on the inroads that the antis have made in terms of the publics perception of greyhound racing how did the IGB arrive at this figure?

The strategic plan highlights seven key pillars or objectives.

PILLAR 1 DEVELOP & SUPPORT OWNING, BREEDING & TRAINING
Breeders and trainers are dependent on owners to fund their businesses. To attract owners the industry needs vibrant betting markets to attract people who love taking on the bookmakers and allows owners to claw back some of their costs.

Page 22 of the Power report shows that bookmaker betting had fallen from 90.2 million in 2007 to 12.7 million in 2016. This represents a drop of 86% and if you take into account that no bookmakers offices will take a bet on Irish greyhounds, and there is no internet betting then it becomes obvious that tracks will struggle to get new owners to buy greyhounds and existing owners will just exit the game.

Only a few greyhounds can win classics and major races each year and if you exclude Shelbourne Park betting on a Saturday night then the betting at all the other 16 tracks has to be abysmal.

If you sort out Pillar 2 & 3 then you will go a long way to achieving this objective and pillars 4, 5, 6 & 7.

PILLAR 2 PROMOTE A FOCUSED RACING CENTRIC AND BETTING MODEL FOR THE INDUSTRY
The plan states that the Tote is a valuable income stream for IGB whereas I would say that it is the vital KPI (key performance indicator) for the industry. Benchmarking the IGB tote returns against horse racing is the most important number for the industry. If your Tote returns are growing then your figures for attendance, ownership and technology are being maximised.

If you consider the IGBs 2016 tote returns against horse racing then you quickly see that greyhound racing is in dire straight as the HRI outperformed IGB by 73.379 million compared to 2006 when the IGB outperformed the horse racing industry.
(see my post on greyhound data under "IGBs Seasonal Messages, Forums & Opportunity Cost)

Co-mingling from other countries was the excuse that the IGB used at the PAC when presented with the fact that the HRI has outperformed the IGB in terms of Tote returns to such an extent. However if you consider the HRI tote breakdown for 2015 below it shows that just 5.4 million came from the International pool. EXTERNAL LINK

On-course Tote 13.3 million
Off-course Tote (Irish pool) 60.6 million
Off-course Tote (International pool) 5.4 million

And the majority of the off-course Tote (Irish pool) of 60.6 million would be punters using their apps at the race track instead of queuing up at the Tote window.

Alan Kelly questioned Colin Walsh on why the IGBs tote revenue has gone from being 1.5 million higher than the horses in 2007 to being 60 million lower in 2015. He justified the IGBs dismal performance by stating that the HRI has managed to offset the on-track decline with an exceptional performance in international markets.

Alan Kelly queried Colin Walsh at the second PAC stating that international markets only represented 5.4 million out of the total tote revenue. Colin Walsh argued that the narrative at the time, and in advance of the meeting, was that HRI's on-track tote was outperforming that of IGB. In effect he was trying not to include the off-course Tote (Irish pool) 60.6 million in the HRIs Irish Tote turnover.

He was being disingenuous and splitting hairs regarding his HRI's on-track tote comment by not accepting that punters at tracks might use their smart phones instead of the Tote window due to convenience. It was obvious to me that this line was given to him by the PR Company that charged the IGB 40,000 + for advice in the run-up to the 2nd PAC meeting.

Bottom line is that the greyhounds should be at least on a par with the horses because it is a night time activity which is when people spend most of their disposal income while horse race meetings are usually confined to afternoon events held in the countryside.

PILLAR 3 IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND DELIVER INCREASE IN ATTENDANCES
This requires a segmented marketing campaign that maximises technology. EXTERNAL LINK

The strategic plan states that marketing is a critical function to support the industry the preparation of an updated marketing plan will address key elements including understanding consumers, customer segmentation, and market sizing.

However on talking dogs the IGB advertised for a sales & marketing director with a closing date of 22/12/17. EXTERNAL LINK

Has this role been filled and if not then should the IGB be preparing an updated marketing plan for the industry without having a sales & marketing director in place?

Appendix 3 budgets marketing and promotional activities as follows;
2016 1.538 million
2017 1.780 million
2018 1.819 million
2019 - 1,921 million
2020 - 1,949 million
2021 - 1,977 million
2022 - 2,005 million

The strategic plan does not go into any great detail with regard to marketing activities. In fact the only detail with regard to marketing activities comes on pages 22 & 23 of the Power report where he mentions the IGB has revised and re-developed its Tourism Sales Strategy and as part of this, appointed a Tourism Sales Manager. 2016 was the first full year that this position existed, and the results have been very positive.

How he can say results have been very positive when you benchmark the IGBs financial data beggar belief! Are tourists going to drive the IGBs tote turnover and become regular customers?
Is the IGB still spending 300k+ a year on a call centre in Thurles to handle restaurant bookings when their website has an on-line restaurant booking system?

PILLAR 4 ENSURE THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF INTEGRITY AND REGULATION IN THE SPORT
In June 2017, Clonbrien Hero tested positive for cocaine that resulted in the Irish Minister for Agriculture photographed with a coked up greyhound, appearing in newspapers worldwide including the Washington Post. The IGB allowed the dog to race on, subsequently winning the Ledger, despite testing positive for cocaine.

Then in November 2017, Mr Justice Donald Binchy granted lawyers for Mr Holland permission to challenge the inquiry on grounds including that Mr Holland has not been told what exactly the case against him is. So while the IGB spent 400k on a state of the art machine to catch drug use in the greyhound industry it would appear that they failed to develop a legally tested process to prosecute these positive samples.

Amazingly Clonbrien Hero has been nominated for greyhound of the year in the same week that the IGB published their strategic plan despite listing pillar 4 as an objective. How is this nomination by the IGB conducive to ensuring the highest standards of integrity and regulation in the sport?

PILLAR 5 ENHANCE ANIMAL WELFARE AT THE CENTER OF OUR INDUSTRY
A pro-active approach to repair the damage of the IGBs 2011 China Deal is required by developing a welfare PR campaign that is aligned to their sales & marketing activities. (see my post on greyhound data under Greyhound Industrys Ticking Time Bomb)

The Irish Retired Greyhound trust received just over 200,000 in funding in 2014. That is the most recent data available. By comparison, in the same year, The British RGT received 1.4M. Indeed the Indecon report of 2014 recommended a significant increase in funding to rehoming organisations but we have seen nothing to date. EXTERNAL LINK

PILLAR 6 DEVELOPING OUR PEOPLE AND CREATING AN ORGANISATION STRUCTURE THAT REFLECTS THE NEEDS OF THE INDUSTRY
Goal: to support a single, committed, and innovative team across IGB many would feel that the way to achieve this goal would be to replace the current board.

Appendix 1 mentions other stadium renovations including Kilkenny. Why does Kilkenny get specific mention? I can understand Shelbourne Park and Cork getting special consideration due to their populations but including Kilkenny smacks of parochialism and is not conducive to supporting a single, committed, and innovative team across IGB

PILLAR 7 MAXIMISE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
This board and executive have shown that they do not have people with the necessary training and experience to develop the required information and communications systems for the industry. Barking Buzz is not fit for purpose despite spending millions on technology over the tenure of this board and is an example of doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. EXTERNAL LINK

The strategic plans executive summary stated that the industry has been the subject of a range of studies, reports and analysis in recent years and while this is true, the IGB has cherry picked these reports to maintain board members control over resources rather than drive the greyhound industry forward. For example the IGB leant heavily on the Indecon report to justify the sale of HX while they ignored recommendations to limit the terms of board members with some individuals being on the IGB since 2008. EXTERNAL LINK

The Power report certainly seems to be a case of he, who pays the piper, calls the tune as this report states; The financial data would indicate that despite a severe recession the industry has turned a corner with the IGB accounts showing an increase in operating surplus in 2015 and again in 2016.
Every dog on the street knows that these operating surpluses are derived from prizemoney reductions over the past decade and this fact is repeated twice in the executive summary when he stated Total prize money paid out at all racetracks peaked at 12.2 million in 2007. It declined to a low of 7.2 million in 2012. It has subsequently recovered somewhat and in 2016 total prizemoney came in at 8 million.
Well there is 4/5 million in operating surplus for starters!!!

All he had to do was benchmark greyhound racings first cousin to discover that this perfect storm or severe recession has not adversely affected Horse Racing Irelands financial data.

The current Irish Greyhound Board consists of members appointed from 15/04/2008 to 21/12/2015 and have returned some of the worst financial returns for a state-sponsored body in the history of the state.
They have over seen the rapid decline of a once thriving industry and still politicians and senior civil servants in the Department of Agriculture refuse to make the obvious and necessary changes. The 23 million windfall from the Department of Education will only prolong the inept management of the greyhound industry history will not judge them well.

Kieran

It is disingenuous to boast about the Boards decision to apply a 25% increase in prize money from 1October 2017 when every dog in the street now knows that 31.4 million was taken from prize money between 2008 and 2015 to create the 18.4 million in operating surpluses highlighted in table 7 of the Power report (page 25) where did the balance of 13 million go?

It is a 25% increase on prizemoney that has been slashed since 2008.

The way to get trainers travelling to Shelbourne Park is through good owners and plenty of them. Paschal spelt it out above when he stated; You can talk all you want about prize money, capital improvements, retired greyhounds, track closures, integrity and IT but unless you can have a decent bet the excitement for most owners is just not there.

Eoin Walsh stated Impossible to get a decent bet on anymore no matter what grade of runner and this fact is borne out in the financial data.

Bookmaker betting has fallen from 90.2 million in 2007 to 12.7 million in 2016
Tote betting has fallen from 50.5 million in 2006 to 19.4 million in 2016

And what does the IGB do to encourage betting on greyhounds by ensuring high standards of integrity and regulation and thereby reviving the publics view of the sport they allow the nomination for greyhound of the year, of a greyhound that has 3 positives for cocaine unresolved.

So how do you get good owners to come back to the sport?
You concentrate on driving up your Tote turnover numbers through sales & marketing and technology. If your Tote returns are maximised then everything else follows i.e. attendance, ownership, breeding, welfare, prize-money and sponsorship. EXTERNAL LINK

This involves developing segmented cross channel marketing campaigns EXTERNAL LINK that get people to go greyhound racing and visit the platforms that stream live racing and facilitate a bet. This will ensure that people can easily see greyhound racing so that individual greyhounds get familiar with the public and develop a following.

At the same time you develop an IT system that provides a stable platform for punters to bet on and view greyhound racing. This requires IGB staff with the training and experience to negotiate with service providers and vendors to ensure that technology is maximised.

Unfortunately the Indecon report highlighted that the IGB had skill gaps and the boards performance at the Public Accounts Committee (May 2017) re-enforced this fact in video format. One only has to examine the financial data over the lifetime of this board to conclude that even with the windfall of 23 million, without the major decision to replace this non performing board then the Irish Greyhound Industry will continue its terminal decline.

Kieran

Current grading system dose not help the situation

Try getting a one off open for your dog anywhere else. What chance have other tracks got of creating excitement with A5 dogs

EXTERNAL LINK

The gist of the discussion asks the question, why the report highlights the reason for the IGBs dismal financial returns for 2017 as being due to the closure of Shelbourne Park but does not mentions the IGBs self-inflicted wound of closing Harolds Cross the way that they did.

The IGB thought they knew better than the entire greyhound stakeholders. What a disaster to close Harold's Cross. They turned a vibrant, profit making facility into a derelict eyesore. They should hang their heads in shame.

Closing HX in the manner they did was a disaster for the industry from a business point of view that could and should have been avoided, and for that the blame lays squarely with the inept IGB.

They really can't blame it all on SP being closed, how much would HX have made if it had still been open. People that used to go there won't go to SP and they need to get that into their thick heads.

It begs the question how much was Sean Brady paid for his brief stint as IGB CEO.

It amazes me how the Ministers and senior civil servants in the Department of Agriculture can continue with the same IGB chairman its a simple case of doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.

The whole industry is amazed by the carry on from the Ministers and Department of Agriculture they to should hang their heads in shame.

So while the IGB spent 400k on a state of the art machine to catch drug use in the greyhound industry it would appear that they failed to develop a legally tested process to prosecute these positive samples.

The question has to be asked where is Hilary Forde????????????

Her appointment back in 2014, brought praise including this: I would like to congratulate the IGB on the excellent appointment of Ms Hilary Forde to the above position. Her CV is of the top drawer. EXTERNAL LINK

A little birdie has informed me that a new legal case against the IGB could be on the cards concerning workplace bullying and someone has not been to work for quite a while.

It would explain why the IGB would appear that they failed to develop a legally tested process to prosecute positive samples from their new 400k machine.

#WheresHilaryForde

Kieran

In the past the IGB have blamed the recession, smart phones, the fact that SPK & HX were 5 km apart and this time its their service provider.

The IGB is in direct contact with the service provider and awaiting a full report to explain the cause of the disruption and why the expected contingency arrangements did not come into effect.
EXTERNAL LINK

What happened last night is every Head of IT / CTOs worst nightmare and they enforce contingency arrangements through SLAs (service level agreements) to ensure this scenario never happens.

A NORMAL business would have a SLA with their service provider that contains financial repercussions if the service provider is not able to meet the requirements as stated in SLA. This is why you never see such IT crashes on an industry level as the financial repercussions for the service provider are too great. The fact this happened suggests to me that the IGBs SLA did not have the required financial penalty and this arises due to cronyism and the IGB hiring people on the basis on who they know and not they know.

A NORMAL business would react to this self-inflicted wound by removing the CTO / Head of IT and very likely the CEO.

But then again the IGB do not run the greyhound industry like a NORMAL business.

Anyone know the IGB's current head of IT?