Australian Sports betting market grows further

[dave nz]

The already competitive Australian sports betting industry became even more crowded today with the launch of the Lasseters Sportsbook.

Licensed in the Northern Territory, Lasseters is operated by the ASX-listed Lasseters Corporation. It is the company's first online offering to Australian clients, having previously operated an online casino for the past ten years.

The new operation marks the return to the industry of well-known betting identity Gerard Daffy. The larger than life character will be joined my fellow ex-Centrebet Bookmakers Ian Loughlin and Shannon Bini in the new company.

MEDIA RELEASE 8 March 2007


LASSETERS BECOMES LOCAL BOOKIE GLOBALLY


Online sports betting on sports around the world with multi-currency functionality, is now offered with the launch today of Australian online casino operator Lasseters
Corporation’s first online sportsbook.


The company, that was the first in the world to operate a regulated online casino, has diversified into sportsbetting as part of the development of its gaming portal.


Lasseters Sports has gone live in time for the Australian
winter sports season and several major international competitions, powered by new,
tailored technology and led by one of Australia’s most experienced and successful
bookmaking teams.


Lasseters Sports is available for betting by punters in Australian and international
markets. The first suite of events offered includes World Cup Cricket, major European soccer competitions, National Rugby League, Australian Football League, Super 14’s and associated exotic products.


Other games and events to be added progressively to the offer include all the major
tennis and golf tours, F1 and Moto GP series as well as federal and state elections and major entertainment events.


Lasseters Managing Director, Mr Peter Bridge, said the service offered by Lasseters
Sports is only now possible given the accessibility of real time information on
international sports and events.


“Technology has now developed to the extent that we can offer a highly tailored
service for specific markets across the world,” Mr Bridge said.
“As Lasseters Sports develops we will be expanding the range of products and events around the world punters can wager on to include some specific-to-certain countries.


There is no market in the world that doesn’t have some form of sports betting.”
Mr Bridge said Lasseters has also benefited from the knowledge built from its 10 years of online casino gaming and the Lasseters Sports leadership team’s additional decade of experience in online sportsbetting.


Lasseters has engaged one of Australia’s best bookmaking teams to lead the
sportsbook including Gerard Daffy, and senior Bookmakers Ian Loughlin and Shannon
Bini.



“We have learned to be successful you need a purely online business model that
offers outstanding customer service,” Mr Bridge said. “It is a natural progression from our casino operations.”


Mr Gerard Daffy said the new site combined leading technology with the best possible team to deliver an entertaining online experience. “Punters like to know who they are putting their money with and a regulated expert Australian team has to be more attractive than an unregulated offshore site which history shows may not be there tomorrow,” Mr Daffy said.


Lasseters utilised existing back-office infrastructure for the marketing, customer
service, financial and administrative support needed for the sportsbook operation to
reduce the cost of the start-up operations. The bookmaking team is based in Alice
Springs.


The company also engaged Melbourne-based software developer, BEToptions, to
design an easy to use and attractive customer-oriented interface and operating system for the sportsbook.


Mr Daffy said the site will appeal to experienced online punters and the next generation punter who is typically Generation Y, who watch a lot of real time sport on cable networks or the internet and are computer literate.


“People have learned to play indoors by logging onto the internet so sportsbooks have to be as much about entertainment as they are betting,” he said.


Like Lasseters’ online casinos, Lasseters Sports is licensed by the Northern Territory
Government, and offers stringent player security and harm minimisation protocols.
These include personal passwords, log-in user identification and identity checks to
ensure punters are over 18 years of age. A 128-bit key encryption keeps credit card and personal information safe with winnings deposited into the punter’s sportsbook account and then redeemable by standard payment methods.


To start playing on Lasseters Sports, players register at *edited*and need to only verify their details once to access all gaming and wagering sites offered by Lasseters.


This is the first time in Lasseters’ online gaming history that Australians have been able to gamble with the company over the Internet. However, under the Commonwealth Interactive Gambling Act (2001), Australian players are still blocked from playing on Lasseters’ online casinos – Lasseters.com and AusVegas.com.


Online betting is a mature 10-year-old market with over 800 sportsbook sites worldwide generating an estimated US$4 billion in revenue each year.


- ends -

Lasseters Sports Leadership Team
Gerard Daffy


Gerard is known as the biggest name in sports betting in Australia as much for his
imposing stature as his pioneering work in the Asia Pacific region.
Gerard’s career in gambling spans over 35 years with the past 15 years spent
specifically in sports betting.


Before joining Lasseters Corporation in February 2007 he ran Centrebet’s sports
betting department since its inception and throughout its online operations launched in 1996. Gerard is an authority on sporting, political and entertainment events where betting is available. He has been a particular driver of novelty wagering opportunities such as the outcomes of reality television programs like Australian Idol and Big Brother.


He is available as a spokesperson for any commentary or advice on betting positions
on sports and events and can be contacted on XXXX.


Ian Loughlin


Ian has over 30 years experience in the bookmaking industry. He joined Centrebet in
1996 as Assistant Manager to Gerard Daffy. Since then Ian has established himself as one of the most respected Bookmakers within the sports betting industry.
He is an expert on local sports such as AFL, NRL and ARU as well as a keen follower
of the major PGA and European golf tours.


Shannon Bini


Shannon has a Bachelor of Economics and Commerce and joined Centrebet in 2001
where his drive and passion led to his appointment as Senior Bookmaker. In recent
times he became head of the CentreBet’s soccer department as well being a key
member of the US Sports team with responsibility for Ice Hockey.

[Dr. Jack]

I have also heard that some of the new e-wallets from Australia coming out soon

Thanks for info Dave