SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Continuing its corporate transformation programme, the governance of Tabcorp Holdings has confirmed that it plans to launch a ‘single tote pool’ product for Australia.
Tabcorp confirmed to The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) its 2020 ambitions to merge all three separate tote systems into a single totalizer pool, sharing punter liquidity across all Australian states.
Marked as a major project for 2020, Tabcorp seeks to merge its tote systems servicing Victoria and New South Wales racing, with its acquired Tatts UniTAB totalizer which services pools for Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania racing.
Tabcorp is reported to be speaking to the executives of Australian racing’s separate state bodies, convincing them that a unified totalizer will benefit all parties by reviving tote pools as a wagering proposition.
Racing Victoria and New South Wales are regarded as the key stakeholders in the development of a national tote, and it is unclear whether they would choose to reconfigure their existing pool systems servicing Australia’s biggest wagering states.
Victoria Racing issued a media statement detailing interest in forming a potential national pool, but underlined that Tabcorp would have to present detailed plans on cooperation and the reward structures for separate racing bodies.
“We would be supportive of a national tote pool if it is clearly in the best interests of Victorian racing,” it said. “This would need to take into account the commercial outcomes for Victorian racing, as well as the implications for customers.”
