Australians will again be able to gamble on whether the Reserve Bank will raise interest rates or not after a change of tack earlier today. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) put Centrebet’s book on interest rates out to pasture last year after concerns about it providing an unlicensed financial service. Back then ASIC tried to shut down the entire company, something that it ultimately failed to do.
Centrebet spokesperson Neil Evans told ABC News, “We let it lie for a little while, but we decided that now is a very good time to do it, coming to the end of the financial year. There hasn’t been a rate rise this year, so there is a lot of debate as to whether a rate rise is coming or whether the Reserve will hold them where they are through to July.
“We are getting along fine with the regulator at the moment, so we are quite happy to be betting on interest rates. We will leave things like… index lines and even unemployment figures, which whilst they may be popular, are sensitive markets. They can cause some dilemmas out there in the marketplace so we are going to stick with interest rates for the moment.”
Centrebet has recently been subject of a bid from Sportingbet and with bet365 also applying for a license in the country, competition is hotting up amongst sports books in what is a fast growing area.
In other news, the Rank Group has confirmed that the offer on the table from the Guoco Group has now been unanimously rejected. The company’s board had already dismissed the offer saying that it “significantly undervalues Rank and its prospects.” Guoco already has a 40.8% stake and the offer, which was for 150p per share, has now been firmly rejected by the remaining shareholders not attached to Guoco.
