Peter V'landys

Peter V'landys is an Australian racing administrator who holds the position of Chief Executive and board member with Racing NSW (an independent body established to control and regulate the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry). He formerly held the position of Chief Executive of the NSW Harness Racing Club and currently serves on a number of Boards associated with the thoroughbred racing industry.

Peter V'landys grew up in Wollongong where he attended Keira Boys High School before graduating from Wollongong University with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree majoring in Accounting

In 2003 he married his wife Phillipa and they have three children, Katerina, Nicholas & Maddie.

A detailed biography of V'landys is available on here.

After commencing his career in the mining and leisure sectors, Mr. V'landys became involved in racing administration in 1988 when he was appointed as Chief Executive of the NSW Harness racing Club the leading harness racing club in Australia which operated successful racing operations at Harold Park and Menangle Paceway. At that time he was the youngest person in Australia to be appointed as Chief Executive of a major metropolitan race club and under his administration, the NSW Harness Racing Club established a record of innovation including conducting an on-track registered club which made Harold Park the first racetrack to have poker machines (200) on course. This and several other commercial enterprises provided the Club with the broadest revenue base of any racing club in Australia.

During this period Mr V'landys also played an integral role on behalf of the NSW racing industry in negotiations in relation to the $1 billion privatisation of the NSW TAB and the restructuring of the Racing Industry's finances.

In 2004 he was appointed to the position of Chief executive and board member of Racing NSW. In this role Mr. V'landys also sits as a board member of several other NSW and Australian racing and wagering industry Boards.

Equine Influenza

In mid-2007, the States' (and the country's) racing industry was brought to a standstill as a result of an outbreak of equine influenza (a highly contagious exotic disease). New South Wales was the most effected State with all racing cancelled and the movement of all horses prohibited indefinitely. These actions had disastrous ramifications for the 50,000 persons who rely on the industry for all or part of their livelihoods and on the economies of Australia and New South Wales.

Mr V'landys assumed responsibility for the overall co-ordination of the industry's response to this crisis and developed and implemented contingency plans to counter the effects of the outbreak and ensure the protection of the industry's stakeholders. This involved negotiating with the Federal and State Governments for the provision of funding to establish emergency welfare schemes. He personally negotiated with the Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard MP and was successful in obtaining Government assistance in an unprecedented $235 million Rescue Package.

He oversaw the administration of these schemes which were directed at participants, not only in the thoroughbred racing industry but also in the standardbred racing and leisure horse industries.

On a State level Mr V'landys worked closely with the Minister for Primary Industries and his Department to contain the spread of the disease and their joint activities helped to mitigate the financial impact of the outbreak.

He also lobbied relevant NSW Ministers for the provision of further financial assistance which resulted in the provision of a $7.5 million grants scheme for the industry's participants and race clubs and the establishment of a Special Mortgage Deferment Scheme for racing industry participants and a further one off grant to help promote the industry following the resumption of normal racing activities.

World Youth Day negotiations with State and Federal Governments

Following the Government's announcement that the 2000 World Youth Day would be held in Sydney and centred at Randwick Racecourse Mr V'landys coordinated the industry's planning for the use of the Racecourse and the disruption which would be caused to the activities and livelihoods of racing industry participants during the World Youth Day activities. This included dealing with the NSW and Federal Governments and the Catholic Church and he was able to negotiate a $40 million compensation package for the racing industry.

Race Field Legislation

Immediately upon his appointment with Racing NSW in 2004, Peter recognised the importance of the Thoroughbred Racing Industry maintaining ownership of the intellectual property rights in its racing product so as to ensure the protection of its wagering revenues.

Initially he explored the application of copyright laws to achieve this purpose. However, in 2008, as a result of his recommendations, the NSW Government enacted race field legislation which allowed the NSW racing industry to generate significant revenue from interstate and overseas wagering operators who were using the NSW product to conduct their wagering operations.

In accord with the legislation Mr V'landys developed a scheme for the collection of revenue from those operators. This program is returning up to $50 million per annum to the NSW thoroughbred racing industry and following the successful implementation of the scheme, the Governments and racing industries of other Australian States and Territories also introduced similar schemes.

Subsequent to the commencement of the scheme, the legislation and its implementation were challenged in the courts by two major wagering operators. Mr. V'landys coordinated and ran Racing NSW's legal defence against those challenges and the matter came before a single judge of the Federal Court, the Full Court of the Federal Court and subsequently before the High Court of Australia which found unanimously in favour of Racing NSW. This outcome allowed the release of $150 million in accrued funds to the industry and ensured the ongoing receipt of $50 million per annum. Mr V'landys' efforts on this front have been recognised worldwide by international racing authorities.

In addition to its positive effect on the NSW thoroughbred racing industry the result also provided certainty for the NSW Harness Racing and Greyhound Racing industries and all racing industries in the other States and territories which were then able to proceed confidently with their funding models.

Trackside

More recently Peter negotiated the sale to TAB Ltd of the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry's future revenues from the computer generated racing game "trackside". This sale realised $150 million for the industry and has allowed the development of new world class spectator facilities at the Randwick Racecourse.

Sydneys 50 Most influential people

Peter is ranked 40th of Sydneys most influential people.

The Australian ranked him 22nd of the Top 50 Sports People.

Awarded AM

Awarded Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia day honours for services to the Racing Industry.

Tax Parity

In 2015, V’landys along with Chairman John Messara AM successfully negotiated with the NSW State Government for the introduction of legislation to reduce the rate of Government tax on totalizator and fixed odds betting thorough TAB Ltd to bring it into line with the rate of tax paid in Victoria. This reduction will be phased in over the next 5 years and when fully implemented, the NSW Thoroughbred will receive an additional $70 million per annum.

This initiative and racefields legislation have doubled the wagering revenue which is the NSW Thoroughbred industry's prime source of revenue.