KiwiOnlineCasino.com

Tabcorp Seeing Online Gains, Looking for More

August 29, 2014

Tabcorp, the Australian retail and online betting giant, is looking to better integrate online gambling with its core retail business as its online and mobile operations continue to increase in profit, while its retail business conversely struggles. Digital betting rose to NZ$3.19 billion last fiscal year, an increase of 19.2 percent, and 50 percent of that came from mobile betting. The same couldn’t be said of their retail betting business, with betting falling by 4.9 percent in Victoria, and 1.2 percent in New South Wales.

What Tabcorp would like to do is integrate their digital and mobile betting with their real world venues like pubs and clubs, by offering rewards to players who make mobile bets from those venues. The only obstacle standing in their way is a legal one, as digital live betting is currently illegal in retail locations; even ones geared to other forms of betting. The potential way around the existing law against live betting from venues through mobile devices could potentially be accomplished if Tabcorp can provide punters with a secure internet connection that would display their license and effectively confirm that they are betting in-person.

“It is something that obviously we’re working on,” Tabcorp chief executive Richard Attenborough told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We would love to develop that further … [That is] certainly the kind of thing the venues would love to see in place, because it is logical that if someone is definitely in the venue ... they are essentially betting under the venue’s licence.”

Changes to that law could be the only way to stem the losses from the retail sector, as online sportsbooks with a wealth of in-play betting options dissuade customers from heading out to retail locations to make their wagers and watch the action.