Tabcorp’s CEO race entering final furlong

Running Tabcorp is considered almost a seven-day-a-week job.

The search for the boss of the nation’s largest wagering company, Tabcorp, is galloping towards the finish line and coming down the straight in a strong position may be former Crown Resorts and Lendlease boss Steve McCann.

DataRoom understands that a short list is now drawn up with six candidates.

However, those expecting former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan to emerge as the new head of the betting organisation could be disappointed, with DataRoom sources suggesting he’s only an outside chance to land the top job despite still remaining in the picture.

Sources say that Mr McCann, a known racing enthusiast, continues to feature in the discussion as being well placed.

Mr McCann ran Lendlease from 2008 to 2021 and is currently a director of Westfield shopping centre owner Scentre Group.

He was picked to run Crown Resorts in 2021 but was only there until 2022 after it was purchased by private equity firm Blackstone before he took the reins.

Prior to joining Lendlease, he had 15 years’ experience in property, funds management, investment banking and capital markets, working at ABN Amro and Bankers Trust.

It is understood that of the Tabcorp short list, about three of the frontrunners are contenders from the local industry, while three are executives currently based offshore.

Expectations are that former Sportsbet boss Cormac Barry is a strong contender.

Mr Barry, an Irishman, is now the chief executive of the Dublin-based CarTrawler after running the Paddy Power-owned Sportsbet in Australia for seven years until 2017.

While it’s unknown other contenders, possibilities could be Racing Queensland boss Jason Scott, Entain executive Andrew Vouris or Melbourne Racing head Josh Blanksby.

And there’s no forgetting that Robbie Cooke, the former Tatts Group boss, is now available after departing Star Entertainment. However, many in the industry believe he would be unlikely to win the position.

The key considerations for Tabcorb’s head hunters Maritana Partners and the board, charged with finding a new boss to run the wagering business, is whether some of the international executives they are keen to court for the role are willing and able to move to Australia, and whether they can get their head around the media component of the business.

Meetings are being held over the course of the week with candidates.

Running a wagering company is a six to seven-day-a-week role, due to the attendance of all the weekend race meetings, and the highly complicated betting industry.

While knowledge of that is important, so is having an understanding of technology and media. Tabcorp’s Sky Racing is a business which generates about $150m of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation a year.

The other complication is that the chief executive needs to have a positive working relationship with the racing industry, particularly Racing NSW headed by Peter V’landys.

It’s understood that there has been strong interest in the job from executives despite some considering it to be a challenging assignment turning around Tabcorp’s performance.

Chairman Bruce Akhurst has stepped into the position of executive chair following the shock departure on March 14 of Tabcorp boss Adam Rytenskild for what was described by the company as inappropriate and offensive language in the workplace.

Mr Akhurst is not believed to be eager to stay in the position for long.

Tabcorp earlier announced that Maritana Partners had been hired to find the new chief executive.