Tabcorp’s ‘future of wagering’ play a long shot; Basketball probe courting conflict

Tabcorp CEO Gillon McLachlan. Picture: Ben Clark

Tabcorp shares continued their heroic climb on Wednesday amid the news of a live sports-betting trial being rolled out in NSW pubs and clubs.

So far, two venues have been approved for this venture. ­Tabcorp chief executive Gill ­McLachlan has described it as “the future of ­wagering” and spoken of expansion to 20 venues in the coming weeks, a vision redolent of Tabcorp’s glossy announcement to the market on Tuesday flagging a “mass rollout” to come. We’ll see.

Unstated by McLachlan is that this two-venue trial in NSW will be closely observed by the regulator, and that any expansion of “tap-in-play”, as it’s known, will be the subject of stringent, conditional approval. Mainly because of the risk posed by this type of product: it appeals to people who struggle with impulse control, betting quantums, and the management of their kids’ shoe money.

We imagine these risks are what worried the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission last month when it rejected Tabcorp’s proposal for live, in-venue betting to be available across Melbourne. No word of that inconvenience in the company’s ASX announcement.

Tabcorp’s intention was to launch in Melbourne, not NSW, because it retains a 20-year licence to operate retail betting in Victorian pubs and clubs, for which it paid $600m in 2023 and $30m annually – until 2043.

We hear that Tabcorp resubmitted its nixxed proposal to the VGCCC with a set of amendments that McLachlan now seems certain will be approved. Perhaps he’s right, or perhaps it’s that infernal optimism again.

Or perhaps he’s forgotten just how little the VGCCC gives a damn for the interests of Tabcorp.

And not just because its former CEO, Adam Rytenskild, is alleged to have made a sexually foul remark about former VGCCC chiefAnnette Kimmitt, who resigned in December. (Rytenskild denies ever making the statement.) But more so because the VGCCC is staffed with wowsers who take a dim view of the gambling sector. Its former chair, Fran Thorn, practically lives her life on LinkedIn, sniping at the industry and making it obvious how much she abhors gambling in all its forms.

We’re not saying that means Tabcorp is done for in Victoria.

“The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission is currently considering a Tabcorp proposal for online account-based sports betting to be allowed in pubs and clubs,” a VGCCC spokesman said.

McLachlan, with that swoosh of richly coloured hair, seems to believe anyone can melt in the halo-light of his oozing charm – and we don’t doubt it! Guess we’ll find out soon enough if his superpowers work on his foes at the VGCCC.

Courting conflict

A letter sent on Wednesday to every team owner in the National Basketball League suggested an investigation into the game’s integrity and apparent conflicts of interest might itself be brimming with too many, well, conflicts of ­interest.

Terry Egger, vice-chairman of Crest Sports, ever so gently suggested so when he noted that Basketball Australia, now running this probe, may not be the fittest of independent arbiters.

NBL owner Larry Kestelman. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Egger is largely acting on behalf of Crest’s billionaire chairman, Jared Novelly, the disgruntled owner of the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks and the man leading a putsch for control of the league against the NBL’s owner, Larry Kestelman.

Few would struggle to feel sympathy with Crest’s point. Basketball Australia is already on record as having written to Kestelman in January expressing “full support” and “full faith and confidence” in him and CEO David Stevenson.

And Egger noted at least one other “cause for concern” – that the NBL and Basketball Australia have signed a deed of arrangement with each other to share gambling revenue. Like, come on, they’re practically in bed together.

“We intend to engage with Basketball Australia to understand how it will ensure any investigation is conducted in a thorough, ­independent and transparent manner,” Egger said.