City Tattersalls Club, a 129-year-old Sydney institution founded by disgruntled bookmakers, is set to sell its heritage-listed Pitt Street clubhouse to its own developers, as it struggles amid the site’s redevelopment into a glitzy 50-storey luxury tower.

City Tatts has, for the better part of this year, tried to bring in external capital to help with its operating expenditure as its revenue nose dives and outgoings skyrocket. The club is understood to be running behind on payments to some vendors, as it shells out $1 million-plus a year in rent at replacement venue The Castlereagh.