Tote betting declines in Australia

Tabcorp and senior racing officials are looking for ways to boost tote betting’s appeal as its numbers continue to drop.

Australia.- Tote betting’s demand continues to decrease in Australia and the industry is looking for ways to turn the tables. According to the head of Racing Victoria, Giles Thompson, senior racing officials and Tabcorp, which is its joint partner and the only company licenced to run retail and tote betting in the state of Victoria, are “brainstorming” ways to make it more appealing.

“Punters have got a far broader range of products than they’ve ever had before – they’ve got betting exchanges, they’ve got fixed-odds, and they’ve also got far more information than they’ve ever had before, so they can shop around a lot more,” Mr Thompson said and added: “Both parts of our joint venture are concerned about it.”

Meanwhile, a Tabcorp spokesman said their focus is on “providing customers choice in how they want to bet” and asserted: “We are taking steps to improve the position of the tote including the introduction of Longitude pool betting technology. The overall performance of the tote will be also improved by the introduction of TAB tote products into Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.”