For immediate release – 29 January 2010

TAB to refund customers affected by power cut

The Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) is trying to contact and reimburse customers whose bets were adversely affected during a recent power outage.

A power supply failure at around 2.45pm on Sunday 17 January, caused two servers at the TAB’s Petone data centre to close down for approximately two hours, affecting betting on two races – Morrinsville Harness Race 9 and Auckland Greyhound Race 4.

New Zealand Racing Board Chief Executive Andrew Brown apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers and wanted to contact as many affected customers as possible.

“A small number of customers placed bets after the races jumped, which reduced the dividends for winning customers. For this reason, we’re trying to contact those winning customers to pay the increased dividend. We also want to contact any customers who placed losing bets after the jump, because they will be entitled to a refund. We want to ensure everyone affected is appropriately compensated.

“We have already begun reimbursing affected TAB account customers and are now trying to contact cash customers. It is more difficult to contact these customers, but we are doing as much as we can, including making announcements on TAB TV and placing notices in TAB outlets,” Mr Brown said.

TAB cash customers whose bets were impacted by the power failure should complete a lost ticket claim form, filling in as much detail as possible. A copy of this form can be sourced from TAB outlets, by calling 0800 102 106 or by visiting www.tab.co.nz/17janclaim

Refunds will be made on a bet-by-bet basis, subject to normal TAB procedures.

The TAB would cover all refunds and racing clubs would not be out of pocket.

Mr Brown said the TAB had made changes to its power supply in the data centre to prevent a similar incident happening again.

Although not the root cause of the power outage, Mr Brown said the age of the TAB’s current system had impacted on the speed it could be fixed.

“This situation clearly illustrates the need to replace our betting engine and further supports the Racing Board’s decision to invest in Typhoon , a new, state-of-the-art betting system which will be installed by the end of the year. When Typhoon is in place, a power outage of this nature will have almost no effect on our ability to take bets.

“We are committed to providing excellent customer service and ensuring punters can have absolute confidence in placing bets with the TAB. Typhoon will help us further improve our performance in both areas,” Mr Brown said.

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