UPC Oz launches NQ-owned and operated wagering business

A Townsville bookie and gaming operator has launched his own online wagering site to challenge the big guys.

If you’re a gambler and wonder where all your cash goes, the answer is offshore. But now you have the chance to keep it local.

Townsville bookmaker Chris Round has launched UPC Oz, a North Queensland-owned and serviced wagering business. The site covers more than 3000 racing and sporting events and so far has close to 2000 users around Australia.

“I know the importance of providing customer service within this industry and as a start-up company UPC Oz wants to be customer focused to compete with the larger operators,” Mr Round said.

“One of the examples of this is our customer support team being specifically recruited and trained from our regional base to service local customers.”

It is funding coaching clinics in touch football and cricket and plans to invest more in youth sports development than event sponsorship.

“We want to see growth in grassroots sport,” Mr Round said.

Gambler

The company has offices in Townsville, Cairns and Darwin and like most operators is licensed by the Northern Territory Government.

Mr Round has an education degree but chose a different course after working with a racing bookmaker to earn some cash while studying. He’s also worked with Aristocrat.

Now he is managing director and joint owner and a Cairns horse racing identity is a partner.

Mr Round said he could see the future in the falling crowd numbers while working as a bookie at race meetings around Queensland, NSW and the Northern Territory.

Australian betting technology provider, ASX-listed Betmakers Technology Group, provided the platform and what followed has been an onerous task of securing integrity agreements with racing and sporting bodies like the NRL and securing licenses.

“As far as investment, the probity checks are huge. (Online gambling) is more heavily regulated than the poker machine industry,” Mr Round said.

There is also the none too small matter of being able to cover and forecast your bets, including on multiple wagers out to a season’s end.

It’s “quite a sizeable amount” and you have to prove it is unencumbered, Mr Round said.

UPC is one of about 20 operators but the big four, which is actually the big three, Flutter, Entain and Bet 365, are based in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

They rake in more than $20bn annually, much of it in Australia. UPC Oz hopes to grab a share of that.

Originally published as UPC Oz launches NQ-owned and operated wagering business