Despite so far having less luck than Frank Bruno, Tabcorp is looking to take their legal fight with Paddy Power the whole distance. In order to protect its long-term investment, the Aussie gambling industry giant is looking to prevent Paddy-owned Sportsbet installing Betbox online betting kiosks across New South Wales and Victoria. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough told the company’s AGM the company ”believes it is important to defend its exclusive retail licences, which it has paid for, and we will continue to do so”. Attenborough added the legal proceedings “may play out over a long period of time.”
Paddy has until now sidestepped the law as punters can’t feed cash into the machine. It means Betboxes don’t qualify as retail betting kiosks and are not in breach of section 92 of the Victorian Constitution according to August’s Federal Court ruling. Tabcorp simply started a new case is NSW and it leaves them with only six states left in the country to take up the case in. Choose carefully guys.
The second largest betting business Down Under, Tatts Group Ltd., saw a 6% increase in lottery sales meaning they could report everything is ay ok. “There have been no surprises and nothing has emerged that will create an unexpected and insurmountable hurdle for future financial years,” Tatts Chief Executive Dick McIlwain told shareholders. It’s hard to get the image from your mind that the room was full of men snoring with boredom.
McIlwain told the company’s AGM they’d be leaving pokies behind as of next August. The business is, as he put it, “mired in controversy,” ahead of proposed pre-commitment technology. The announcement by Tatts may lead others to question their motives for operating in this lucrative part of the Australian gambling market. Tatts sound about as surprised at these results as they would if a foreign child asked them of they have a pet kangaroo called Winston.
