The Victoria Racing Club, the responsible authority for the conduct of thoroughbred racing in the State of Victoria, Australia, has announced a record profit for the 2012-2013 season. 

The VRC, which runs Australian racing’s showpiece event the Melbournce Cup, delivered a $7.5 million profit, up 200 per cent on the previous year.

The figure comes on the back of revenue of $150.5 million, a five per cent increase on 2011-2012.

The club put the profit hike down to judicious cost-cutting with the boost in turnover predominantly coming from the 2012 Cup carnival.

Unlike other major events such as the Formula One Grand Prix which survives on a state government handout, the VRC and the Cup carnival is entirely self-funding.

Club chairman Michael Burn said the profit has made the VRC debt-free, despite having invested some $10 million in racecourse improvements and increasing prizemoney to $36.4 million over the past season.

“No other self-sufficient event in Australia can claim to have such a positive effect on a local economy and government revenue,” he said.

More than 350,000 people attended the 2012 Melbourne Cup carnival with more than 53,000 coming from outside Victoria. It is estimated they boosted the Victorian economy by more than $366 million.

With 30,000 members, the VRC is the world’s largest member-based racing club.

Two-time Olympic champion and three-time world amateur champion boxer, Zou Shiming has turned professional, having signed a deal with US promotion company Top Rank.

“Zou is an incredible talent who is beloved in China,” Top Rank Chairman, Bob Arum, said. “We will make every effort to make certain that he has a spectacular career as a professional.”

Zou won Olympic light flyweight gold at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics after taking a bronze in Athens in 2004. He won world amateur titles in 2005, 2007 and 2011.

Zou became China’s first Olympic boxing medalist, first world amateur boxing champion and first Olympic boxing champion.

31-year-old Zou is set to make his pro debut April 6 in Macau.{jcomments on}

The Football Association has launched an initiative with a view to increasing the popularity and participation of the sport amongst England’s woman.

There are currently 253,600 female players who play once a month, which the FA will hope to build upon. 

David Bernstein, the FA Chairman, said: “Women’s football is the area with the most potential for growth in the nation’s favourite game.

“We are determined to lead development at every level and have created a robust plan for doing so using all our resources and knowledge.”

Amongst the plans for the expansion of the game are pledges to create an Elite Perfomance Unit and to appoint a head of elite development to coach younger players. 

Also included are plans to expanding the newly created Women’s Super League, creating a second division to allow more clubs to play.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has launched Hockey World League (HWL), impotent a four-round, capsule two-year event which will serve as the qualifier for both the Hockey World Cup and the Olympic Games and will record national teams taking part in FIH events.

“I am very proud to launch the Hockey World League today, view ” FIH President Leandro Negre said at the launch on the day of the women’s Olympic gold medal game. “This has been a vision of the FIH’s for a long time and at last the day is here that we see it become a reality.”

The first round will be made up of 11 tournaments with the historic first game taking place in just four days in the Czech Republic when the Scotland and Turkey women’s national teams meet on 14 August.

In total men’s and women’s national teams from over 60 nations will take part in the first edition of the Hockey World League. For 19 of the countries, it will be their first-ever appearance in an FIH competition.

“Never before has an international hockey competition been open to such a wide range of teams and athletes,”Negre said. “We sit here in London ready to watch the gold medal game today and four years from now in Rio more than 2000 athletes will have been a part of the qualification process for the next Olympics. It is truly an exciting time for hockey.”

Those 2,000 athletes will accumulate around 6,000 caps and will gather FIH World Ranking points that were never-before available. In addition, around 300 officials will have the chance to take part in the World League.

“This is a two-tiered approach,” said FIH CEO Kelly Fairweather. “Not only does it give the FIH a clear qualification structure for the World Cup and Olympics, but it also provides a massive development opportunity for all areas of hockey. Who knows, what the hockey landscape will look like in Rio, maybe a team from Round 1 will be with us at the next Olympics.”

Wie das Magazin Sponsors berichtet, asthma hat die Monopolkommission, sale ein unabhängiges Beratungsgremium der Bundesregierung für Fragen der Wettbewerbspolitik, den neuen Glücksspielstaatsvertrag geprüft und hart kritisiert.

Die Kommission hat den Anfang Juli in Kraft getretenen Glücksspieländerungsstaatsvertrag der Länder in ihrem am Freitag vorgestellten 19. Hauptgutachten als nicht geeignet beurteilt. Die gesellschaftlichen Ziele würden damit nicht effizient zu erreichen sein, heißt es darin. Aus diesem Grund hält die Monopolkommission bereits jetzt eine „grundsätzliche Überarbeitung” der Regulierung für notwendig.

Konkret kritisiert die Kommission, dass die von den Ländern gewählte Steuer auf den Spieleinsatz ein Angebot für Sportwetten in Deutschland weiter unattraktiv mache und Anbieter aus dem Ausland bevorzuge. „Stattdessen wäre eine Besteuerung der konzessionierten Anbieter auf Grundlage des Rohertrags nach dem Vorbild Schleswig-Holsteins deutlich vorzuziehen“, schreibt die Kommission in ihrem Gutachten.

Zudem spricht sich die Monopolkommission gegen die vorgesehene Beschränkung der Anzahl möglicher Konzessionen aus. Derzeit ist eine bundesweite Limitierung auf 20 Lizenzen vorgesehen. Des Weiteren sollte die Experimentierklausel mit einer Liberalisierung und Überprüfung nach zwei Jahren auch auf andere Spielformen mit wachsenden Graumärkten wie Online-Poker und Online-Casinospiele ausgeweitet werden.

Das Gutachten ist für viele private Glücksspielanbieter wie Wasser auf ihre Mühlen: Wiederholt hatten sie den Glücksspielstaatsvertrag kritisiert. Mit Ausnahme von Nordrhein-Westfalen und Schleswig-Holstein, das ein eigenes Glücksspielgesetz hat, haben alle Bundesländer zum 1. Juli den neuen Glücksspielstaatsvertrag ratifiziert. Demnach sollen Online-Sportwetten von 20 Unternehmen angeboten und auch dafür geworben werden dürfen. Poker und Casinospiele sind weiterhin verboten, und auf die Unternehmen müssen fünf Prozent vom Umsatz an den Fiskus abführen.

Die Monopolkommission besteht aus fünf Mitgliedern und wird aktuell von Justus Haucap, Direktor des Instituts für Wettbewerbsökonomie der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, als Vorsitzendem geleitet. Das Gutachten der Monopolkommission ist unter http://www.monopolkommission.de/ zum Download verfügbar.

With the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games fast approaching, security forces are beingmobilised as apllications are coming in thick and fast.

There have been 34,000 applications for more than 10,000 jobs as private security staff at the London 2012 Games, security firm G4S has said.

So far 20,000 of the G4S applications have been made by London-based residents and 4,500 roles have already been allocated.

The 23,700-strong security force that will be deployed for the Games is a mix of military, private security guards and at least 3,000 unpaid London 2012 volunteers who will be used at the start of the security process.

The military will provide 13,500 personnel, which is more than the 10,000 that were deployed to Afghanistan.

G4S staff will be paid from £8.50 an hour in what the company is billing as “the biggest paid recruitment drive of the century”.

G4S opened the doors to its recruitment centre in east London on Thursday, a stone’s throw away from the Olympic Park in Stratford.

Candidates will be asked to attend an interview at the recruitment centre, where they will go through a screening and vetting process before their application is submitted to London 2012 for accreditation.

The recruitment centre will also serve as a training facility, where new recruits will be put through their paces and provided with role-specific training to ensure they are fully prepared for the Games.

Would-be security staff will face a thorough screening, according to London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton.

He said: “This is G4S’s core business and they have rigorous processes. On top of that, we have an Olympic accreditation process with a series of checks so this is about as tough as it can possibly be.”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has outlined plans to permit visa-free travel for all supporters at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

“Russia has decided to let in all the fans for the 2018 World Cup if they have tickets. What’s more, we are even considering the option of letting fans use their tickets to travel between host cities for free”.

Putin also promised that the Russian government is looking to improve travel infrastructure within the country and countered the concerns of those who feel that staging the World Cup across such a vast nation is fraught with logistical problems.

Putin was speaking at the centenary celebrations of the RFU (Russian Football Union) in Saint-Petersburg.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA counterpart Michel Platini were also in attendance and Platini offered his take on the possibility of a visa-waiver.

“The problem with entry visas is a political problem. We need an agreement between Ukraine and Poland so that there are no difficulties for the fans”.

Platini also revealed that UEFA is considering a visa-waiver system for this summer’s European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

A three-year contract extension has been agreed between U.S. Cellular and Major League Baseball’s (MLB) St. Louis Cardinals.

Under the terms of the new deal, the creation and debut of the U.S. Cellular MVP Deck will be launched, a new premium, all-inclusive seating area in the northeast corner of Busch Stadium that will be targeted for group sales.

The partnership will also allow for the continuation of the U.S. Cellular Family Pavilion, an interactive games area, at the ballpark.

In addition, U.S. Cellular upgraded its cell tower at Busch Stadium to improve fans’ mobile connectivity. U.S. Cellular first became a team sponsor with a five-year deal in ’06, the first year of the third Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

MP & Silva has signed an exclusive, patient multi-year distribution deal to secure the global media rights for the FIA GT1 World Championship from the Stephane Ratel Organisation Motorsports Group.

The Championship was launched onto the world stage in 2010 and brought iconic motor sport brands – Aston Martin, ailment Corvette, Ford, Lamborghini, Maserati and Nissan – in spectacular competition in an exciting sprint format.

In its second season this year, the FIA GT1 World Championship will feature the world’s most desirable sports cars and leading drivers, competing on 10 leading circuits across Europe, Asia and South America.

Under the agreement, MP & Silva will assume distribution responsibilities for the Championship from the 2011 season, with the exception of territories covered by on-going deals.

March 26, will see the 2011 season launches once again at the state-of-the-art Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The circuits at Algarve, Silverstone, Navarra, Paul Ricard and San Luis remain on the calendar from last year, while Zolder, Sachsenring, Ordos and Curitiba will witness GT1 for the first time in 2011. The series will travel to China for the first time this year, for round eight of the season in early September.

Andrea Radrizzani, Group CEO, MP & Silva, stated: “We believe THE FIA GT1 World Championship has all the necessary ingredients for global success – prestigious car marques, high performance supercars, iconic race venues, talented race drivers, and a well-established fan base of passionate motorsports fans. GT racing has always been popular, but with the introduction in 2010 of the new format, the series is more competitive and we are excited to be helping to build a distinctive and unique television product that is not only more exciting for hardcore motorsports fans but also more appealing to the wider, general global audience.”

Stephane Ratel, CEO of the SRO Motorsports Group, added: “Historically, GT racing has always enjoyed passionate support from global motorsport fans, particularly across Europe, Asia and Americas. Following the success of the launch of GT1 last year, our next immediate target is to further invigorate the sport by continuing to broaden the appeal of GT racing to even more countries and across different demographic groups. engaging the global network and local expertise of MP & Silva will undoubtedly help us achieve this objective.”

Chevrolet’s return to challenge Honda will be announced at a 10 a.m. Friday news conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum.

Chevrolet, along with Toyota, last participated in the sport in 2005. Honda has been the exclusive engine supplier since.

The return of Chevrolet is part of IndyCar’s switch to a new chassis and engine configuration for the 2012 season. It’s possible a European manufacturer also will announce its intention to build a turbocharged engine of up to six cylinders with a maximum displacement of 2.4 liters.

With Chevrolet comes additional marketing strength. A racing series achieves the maximum promotional benefit when manufacturers compete with one another. Honda officials have been supportive of another manufacturer joining IndyCar.