TABCORP chief executive David Attenborough is adamant a successful merger with Tatts Group will ensure significantly higher revenues for racing in Queensland.
If the merger between Tatts Group and Tabcorp goes ahead, the UBET brand will be shelved, replaced by the more famous TAB branding within two years.
“The TAB brand is stronger in Queensland than the UBET brand,” Attenborough said.
“If you look at the actual retail activity and the propensity to bet on racing and wagering, there is far less wagering per head in Queensland than there is in New South Wales or Victoria.’’
Attenborough attributed that “absolutely” to the retail network not keeping pace.
“It’s only wagering that is well down on what you would expect and that has to be to the quality of the product,” he said.
Asked if he was confident he could reverse that trend and provide a product that would return more dollars to the Queensland racing industry, Attenborough said “Yes’’.
He said: “Despite the turnover growing every year on Australian racing, Queensland racing is under pressure, it has had to lower prizemoney and it is feeling the pinch.
“And that’s mainly because its incumbent tote, UBET, is struggling to compete.
“It’s sitting there with a set of technology that isn’t quite up to where it needs to be yet and they know it.
“What this transaction brings, is a truck roll across Queensland where every single pub and club will get new equipment rolled out.
“It won’t work unless we roll out all our equipment.”
The merger would come with the likelihood of a virtual racing product being introduced to help build racing revenues, while the existing 30-year funding deal would likely be revisited if and when a national tote pool was introduced.
“There is an opportunity when the deal is done to look at how we can create a better, maybe more aligned, sustainable industry around the country,” Attenborough said.
“The (contracts) probably can’t be revisited in terms to get this deal done, (but) it’s absolutely certain they would have to be revisited over coming years to get a national pool over the line.”
Attenborough was hopeful the merger deal could be completed by mid-2017.
“If we look at Australian racing as a whole, it is recognised as one of the best funded in the world, but with a model that is taking strain,” he said.
“There has been quite a shift of share to the corporate bookmakers and when that share shifts, a lot less flows back to racing.’’
Attenborough said there was still some uncertainty, in terms of approvals and regulatory processes, but he was confident the deal would get the green light.
“There are other stakeholders, like the racing industry, we have to spend time with and it’s quite a process to line everything up, but ultimately the timing we think can be brought together to mid-2017.’’
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