Australian betting operator Tabcorp Holdings Ltd. wants the federal government to enact national gambling regulations that eliminate the “inconsistencies” resulting from “state-based fragmentation” of current laws. Speaking at Tabcorp’s annual general meeting this week, chairwoman Paula Dwyer bemoaned the fact that online betting firms licensed in the Northern Territory (NT) pay far less tax than Tabcorp does in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW). Unfortunately, Dwyer’s solution is not to seek a reduction in Tabcorp’s tax burden, but to raise everyone else’s.
Dwyer quoted stats showing Tabcorp’s 2012 state wagering tax bill in Victoria and NSW amounted to $292m, while total wagering taxes collected in the NT in 2012 amounted to a mere $2m. Dwyer acknowledged that NT politicians were reviewing their tax regime, but she also complained that NT-licensed bookies weren’t sharing tote wagering revenue with the country’s racing industry, while Tabcorp was the single largest financial contributor to the sport. This disparity allows NT-licensed bookies to offer higher tote dividends to punters, creating an imbalance that “will undermine racing industry funding.”
In the run-up to September’s federal election, new Aussie PM Tony Abbott made a pledge to end the practice of online betting on credit and Dwyer also wants to see an end to the ability of NT-licensed online betting operators to offer credit to punters, regardless of whether said punters reside in the NT. The list of operators holding NT-issued online betting licenses includes Bet365, Betstar, Unibet, Paddy Power offshoot Sportsbet as well as William Hill’s Sportingbet, Centrebet and Tom Waterhouse subsidiaries.
Yet amidst all this doom and gloom, Dwyer found time to humble-brag that Tabcorp basically owned the market for wagers on the Melbourne Cup, the latest installment of which gets underway on Tuesday. Dwyer said 74% of punters in Victoria and NSW who wager on the Cup do so via Tabcorp. In fact, traditional tote operations run by the likes of Tabcorp and Tatts account for $16b of the $23b wagered annually in Australia, with Tabcorp alone responsible for 55% of the wagering market. Tabcorp CEO David Attenborough has dubbed his company “by far the biggest bookmaker on the fixed-odds side.”
That’s not to say that Tabcorp’s position is unassailable. Tom Waterhouse – who recently sold his eponymous firm to William Hill – told the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia’s TAB market was “the opportunity” for online bookies to cut into Tabcorp’s head start. Online betting shops “can offer far better pricing and better technology and ease of use, and a better customer experience.” Attenborough acknowledged the need for Tabcorp to up its digital game, because “that is where the challenges are coming from. The world is moving very fast and companies that don’t move will become digital road kill.” Unless, of course, they can convince politicians to ‘level’ the playing field by hobbling their digital rivals.
