Bookmakers bullish on big Melbourne Cup betting

Wagering giants remain optimistic more dollars will be fluttered on Cup Day despite the drag from recent animal cruelty controversies and a drop in betting turnover.

Tabcorp is confident that the total number of people placing bets with the country's biggest bookmaker will rise, while Sportsbet is expecting to set a new record for betting volume.

Wagering giants remain optimistic more dollars will be fluttered on Melbourne Cup Day.Credit: Pat Scala

Betting during the spring racing carnival has been on the decline, with turnover  from the Caulfield Cup falling $31.4 million, or 24.6 per cent, to $96.3 million.

Australia’s biggest gambling company, Tabcorp, which runs retail and online wagering services, is expecting over 3 million people will place bets on the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

"The Melbourne Cup is our single largest betting event and over the course of the day we expect to take 15 million bets," a spokesman said. This is inline with the forecast it provided last year.

Adam Rytenskild, Tabcorp's managing director of wagering, said he was confident the total number of people placing bets with the TAB would rise, though he declined to say whether turnover would be higher or lower compared with last year.

Tabcorp is expecting to rake in $1 billion over the eight key days of spring racing, including the four days of the Melbourne Cup carnival.

Last year, it handled more than $170 million in turnover on the 10 races at Flemington Racecourse on Cup Day across its TAB and UBET brands, with $115 million in turnover on the Melbourne Cup alone.

The country's biggest online bookmaker, Sportsbet, said it is expecting to have taken a total of five million bets on the Cup by the time the race starts at 3pm. In the hour leading up to the main event, it estimates it will take 35,000 bets a minute.

So far, it has taken 200,000 bets on the race, with a quarter of those flowing in on Monday.

"If the early betting is any indication, this Cup Day will set a new record for bet volume here at Sportsbet,” a spokesman said.

The bookmaker declined to reveal their expected turnover but said "given the turnover to date, we are hopeful it will exceed previous years".

The decline in betting turnover during the spring carnival to date has been attributed to several off-track issues.

The introduction of state-based point-of-consumption taxes levied on online bookmakers has made it harder for them to offer attractive odds and special deals.

Meanwhile, the industry has been tarnished by the revelations of animal abuse after the ABC's 7.30 broadcast footage showing racehorses being sent to a slaughterhouse.

Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Darren Weir is also facing animal cruelty charges over the alleged torture, abuse and over-working of horses.

With Patrick Hatch