Market reopens for WA’s TAB

WA is believed to be interested in a NZ-inspired partnership rather than an outright sale.

One of the longest-running races in the gambling sector looked set for a restart, with Barrenjoey putting out the feelers for the Western Australia TAB.

An asset that has been on the block several times in recent years, including last year and back in 2020, the Cook government in WA looks like it is once again going to try to do a deal for the state TAB that has a price tag of about $1bn.

This time though Barrenjoey is likely to try a different approach.

Sources tell DataRoom that instead of an outright sale, WA is more amenable to the model adopted by the New Zealand government for its TAB across the Tasman earlier this year.

The race for that asset, won by Entain in March (as revealed at the time by DataRoom), involves a 25-year strategic partnership.

Entain is guaranteeing funding to TAB NZ of more than $NZ1bn in the first five years of the deal to support the revitalisation of the racing industry and a significant upfront payment.

There is also a $15m payment to New Zealand national sporting organisations and funding to Sport NZ to be invested in women’s sport, as well as a payment to help prevent unlicensed offshore betting companies from wagering in New Zealand.

And then there is a further $NZ10m that Entain is paying in sponsorship of New Zealand racing carnivals and other community linked initiatives.

Barrenjoey was also involved in the TAB NZ transaction.

Entain, the owner of the Ladbrokes and Neds brands in Australia, and Tabcorp are the likely bidders for the WA asset, with Sportsbet also a close to even money chance to at least inspect the books.

One company unlikely to bid this time is Matthew Tripp’s Betr, which was set to win the most recent race for the WA licence last October only to withdraw its bid at the eleventh hour and leave the WA government stuck in its own starting gates.

Betr has since been stymied several times in a bid of its own to sell itself or find more investors. It has had Barrenjoy on the case, tried to merge with the ASX-listed PointsBet and had discussions with Entain and Tabcorp, all without success so far.

Meanwhile, the Victorian government is in the final stages of its process for the state’s next wagering licence, which is down to a two-horse race between incumbent Tabcorp and a surprise bid from Sportsbet.