The grass must be greener in the online lottery business that former Ladbrokes’ Australia chief executive officer Dean Shannon is willing to spend almost AUD10 million (US$7.95 million) to advertise his new venture at the peak of horseracing spring carnival next month.
According to The Australian Financial Review, Shannon is now just awaiting for the Aussie regulators to give him the thumbs up in order for his new online lottery and gambling business, Neds, to operate.
Shannon is the second big name to test the water in the Australian online lottery business in the past few weeks. Just six days ago, Australian casino operator Crown Resorts’ digital arm announced plans to launch an online lottery betting product to compete with Lottoland’s expanding Aussie presence.
His re-entry into the Australian market raised many eyebrows, coming during a period of strong regulatory headwinds. These headwinds include the point of consumption tax on online betting in South Australia, the banning of credit betting and the pending restriction on betting ads on television during some live sports events.
According to the report, the former bookie says his gaming website will not only have racing and sports betting services but also offer sports lottery products that are different from that of Lottoland and Crownbet.
The report said that Shannon’s choice of technology platform for Neds was GoLang, which was developed at Google in 2017. Goland is a computer programming language known for its ability to handle high volumes of queries and transactions.
Shannon, known for keeping a low profile on his business affairs and transactions, also quietly took in a dozen staff from Tatts Group’s Ubet business and several ex-Ladbrokes employees.
Should his venture becomes successful, Shannon reportedly plans to expand into the UK in the first half of 2018 and other countries afterwards.
