Australian gambling operator Tabcorp today announced that it has sealed a five-year wagering agreement with the Australian Hotels Association New South Wales. Under the terms of the deal, 1,116 hotels and pubs around the state will sign the operator as an exclusive wagering partner.
It is believed that the deal has come as Tabcorp’s response to the challenge it has recently been posed by rival CrownBet, a sports betting business that is partly owned by local casino operator Crown Resorts (60%). CrownBet has signed an exclusive partnership with ClubsNSW that, among other things, would allow club members to place in-venue digital bets.
Prior to the CrownBet deal, Tabcorp and its TAB brand held the largest share in the New South Wales wagering market. ClubsNSW properties around the state hosted TAB facilities that allowed customers to wager over the counter. That previous deal together with Tapcorp’s one from today will certainly result in the state’s gambling landscape being significantly changed.
With Tabcorp to be announced as the exclusive partner for over 1,100 pubs, those will receive commissions on wagers being made on property via the specially developed TAB app. Each venue will also be rewarded for each player who has signed up to the app while on property. Tabcorp has introduced a model not much more different from that in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.
Tabcorp is in the middle of an A$11-billion merger with fellow gambling operator Tatts Group. The combination of these two will result in the creation of the largest gambling operator on the Australian gambling scene.
Tabcorp and Tatts submitted in March the necessary papers to the Australian Competition Tribunal, seeking much-needed approval of their merger. As a result, it had withdrawn a previous application for the deal’s clearance with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
A 38-page document released by the ACCC in early March recommended that Tabcorp sell a slot machine monitoring business in Queensland in a bid for negative impact from the merger to be reduced.
It is believed that a Tabcorp/Tatts combination would indeed have significant impact on competition around Australia. It was, in fact, CrownBet that suggested the merger would most certainly change the betting and racing media landscape around the country in an irreversible manner.
Tabcorp owns the Sky Racing channel, which also broadcasts racing events across ClubsNSW venues. CrownBet has recently challenged the proposed Tatts merger to the Australian Competition Tribunal, arguing that the creation of the A$11-billion betting behemoth will practically eliminate any competition opportunities in Australia.
Competition concerns have also been voiced by Racing Victoria and its broadcast partner Seven West Media. Although Tabcorp, which currently holds an exclusive betting license in Victoria, is working together with the state racing regulator, the latter has, too, challenged the operator’s merger bid in the Australian Competition Tribunal.
