Sport is made for betting

This venture, as the second lotteries company in Victoria, looked doomed from the start, considering the monopoly the incumbent Tattersall's have. They control everything, particularly the retail space which is so crucial to lottery ticket sales. Gaming giant Intralot out of luck The spectacular failings of the lottery operator have sunk to new depths and the State Government has engaged legal experts for advice on the "possible cessation of a gambling licensee's operations". Intralot have incredibly deep pockets so they can keep funding a losing venture, but surely they'll have to see some sign of improvement soon...

In Australia, the three main zones for corporate bookmakers are the Northern Territory (home of Centrebet, Sportsbet, Sportingbet, IASBet and numerous others), Tasmania (home of Betfair Aus) and the ACT (home of Sportsalive). When I say home, it's at least where their servers are based and a handful of staff - most have marketing and other departments based in Melbourne or Sydney. These three regions, two territories and Australia's smallest state, have little industry to speak of and need businesses in their region for employment, taxes etc. And they also have no deep-seated allegiance to TABs like the bigger states such as Victoria and New South Wales. Internet bookmakers in NT welcome tax change Tasmania recently threw the cat amongst the pigeons by scrapping the local tax on corporate bookmakers and adopting a $250k annual flat fee, a very attractive prospect for major firms turning over hundreds of millions per year. This was brought on by Betfair's five-year licence b...

Australian corporate bookmakers have been screaming for years how they would be prepared to pay for the right to bet on racing, but expected a fair go in terms of advertising in the respective states. Now it's happened, Victoria is the first one off the rank to introduce a product fee based on Gross Product rather than turnover. Racingandsports article The fools in NSW will try to implement their anti-competitive legislation and waste even more money getting beaten in court, meanwhile Victoria is getting on with it and dealing with the new dawn.

Victorian bookmakers will finally be allowed to take bets 24/7 under new proposals from the state government. But it's still taboo for them to lay horses on Betfair, although EVERYONE ELSE in the entire country is allowed to do it. Seriously, you wonder how any of these idiots managed to get elected.... Herald Sun article They'll still have to be based on a racecourse, venues punters rarely ever attend these days and severely lacking in technological resources or office space. And they'll still only be allowed to advertise in Victoria, if they're lucky...