Gross betting revenue for March amounted to NZ$31.7m (£16.4m/€18.9m/US$22.8m), which was $2.8m above budget in the month.
This better-than-expected performance was primarily down to above-budget turnover, which reached $205.7m in March, some $22.1m ahead of initial budget forecasts.
Sports betting turnover was $17.5m above budget, with the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts bout between Jan Blachowicz and Israel Adesanya the most popular event of the month, drawing $473,000 in turnover.
In terms of racing, turnover was $4.6m above budget, primarily due to continued strong performance from overseas racing. The Auckland Cup at New Zealand course Ellerslie was the most popular racing event in March, accounting for $861,000 of total racing turnover for the month.
Higher revenue and turnover led to better-than-expected profit, which amounted to $11.9m in March, surpassing TAB NZ’s budget by $1.8m. Betting profit was $2.0m ahead of budget at $10.8m, but gaming profit was slightly below a budget of $1.9m at $1.8m.
Operating costs were $400,000 over budget at $10.7m, while distributions to racing codes also surpassed an initial budget by $400,000 to reach $10.5m for the month.
In terms of year-to-date performance, profit was $28.9m above budget at $116.7m, with this split $107.5m for betting and $13.8m for gaming.
Distributions to racing codes in the year-to-date reached $94.7m, some $6.5m ahead of budget expectations.
The monthly report comes after TAB NZ earlier this month also reported NZ$26.5m in comprehensive profit for the first half of its financial year, thanks to growth in staking and revenue.