Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) placed its highest number of greyhounds in homes through their Greyhounds As Pets program, saw major injuries at their lowest rate on record, and the organisation produced a year-on-year financial turnaround of more than $18 million.
These figures highlighting a successful year of benchmarking results for GRNSW were revealed today following the tabling of the organisation's FY24-25 Annual Report by the Minister for Racing and Gaming, the Hon David Harris.
During FY24-25 GRNSW also conducted a record number of races, had the most starters ever compete, and recorded the third highest wagering turnover in its history.
"We are very proud of the results shown in the Annual Report," Chief Executive Officer Steve Griffin said. "The outcomes which the organisation and the industry have been able to achieve over the last 12 months, clearly demonstrates that we are on the right trajectory for a thriving and sustainable future.
"What is very pleasing is that in FY24-25 a total of 1,634 greyhounds were pet placed into homes through our GAP domestic and overseas programs, an increase of 11.76% on the previous year.
"Additionally, during FY24-25, a total of 2,759 greyhounds were desexed in preparation for pet placement, 17.6% up on FY23-24.
"FY23-24 was a very challenging year for the organisation particularly with a softer wagering market across all Australian racing codes, and GRNSW was heavily impacted recording a loss of $16.7 million. In what is a tremendous result for the organisation, we can announce that in FY24-25 we had an operational surplus of $1.49 million representing a $18.2 million turnaround.
"The performance was driven by a number of factors including an increase in wagering revenues by $3.2 million, the lowering of direct racing expenses by $3.8 million, and disciplined cost control across most operating expense categories, producing $7.7 million in savings.
"It is credit to the entire organisation that we have been able to turn the financial situation 360 degrees and get back on track and we have now embarked on our Industry Future Blueprint."
The Greyhound Care Scheme (GCS) and work on track safety and greyhound welfare, continued to deliver improved outcomes for greyhounds seriously injured while racing. The measurement of catastrophic injuries per 1,000 starts is a standard industry metric, and in FY24-25 it was 0.15 per 1,000 starts – the lowest since records commenced in 2015-16.
This past year saw a 27% (16 in total, down from 22) reduction year-on-year and a 76% (down from 66) reduction on the figures from two years ago.
In FY24-25, 1,269 race meetings were held made up of 14,241 races and 103,641 starters. These were new highs in each category, surpassing last year's records of 1,244 meetings, 14,003 races and 102,622 starters.
Wagering turnover climbed in FY24-25 to $2.8 billion, the third highest turnover on record behind only the $3.1 billion of the Covid-19 year of FY21-22, and $2.9 billion in FY22-23 which had a Covid-19 flow-on effect. This year's result is up on last year's $2.67 billion of wagering turnover.
"It is very pleasing to see such results right across the industry, but we cannot - and will not - bask in our successes," Mr Griffin said.
"That is why the industry as a whole, through key stakeholders, clubs, administrators and participants, worked together to introduce the Blueprint for our industry's future earlier this year."
