Bookie stunned by TAB swoop in Territory

[dave nz]

ABCORP'S interest in buying the Northern Territory-based sports betting company Sportsbet has perplexed Mark Morrissey, chief executive and 40 per cent stakeholder of the Betchoice Corporation.

Morrissey has worked with Sydney Bookmaker Colin Tidy for many years and only last year Betchoice was relocated to Darwin after the NSW Government refused to change betting laws to allow bookies in this state to compete with the interstate corporates on level terms as far as what betting types they can offer.

Tabcorp representatives visited the Northern Territory last week and had positive discussions with its government about purchasing a multimillion-dollar business to operate out of the NT where Bookmaker taxes are much lower than what is paid in NSW.

"The one thing I don't find funny about this whole fiasco is that when we went to the Northern Territory, the TAB made us out to be the bad guys," Morrissey said yesterday. "The truth be known, we offered the NSW Government a blank cheque if they would deregulate here and let us bet on all races. We begged to stay and pay the full turnover taxes to the NSW racing industry but were shown the door.

"The only possible explanation for this was that the Government was scared of upsetting the TAB. Give me another reason why they didn't want our money when the racing industry needed it so desperately. Our payments alone could have saved the greyhound track closures."

Morrissey said it was "laughable" Tabcorp was proposing to pay $100 million for a business "they don't actually need". "It's either a poor bluff or the stupidest business decision ever, I can't work out which one," he said. "They're obviously worried that deregulation is on its way, now that the NSW Government is rumoured to be letting Betfair into this state.

"It's getting quite monotonous watching Tabcorp try to bully the Government into blocking anyone who wants to compete in NSW with them.

"I'm actually enjoying this in one respect though. It's about time everybody got to see Tabcorp's true colours. The racing industry is on its knees and yet they've got $100m to throw away to make a political statement. Hopefully everyone will now realise that they couldn't give a stuff about helping racing. In fact, I find it amazing that people keep thanking the TAB for their financial contributions to the industry.

"Don't people realise that Tabcorp is a publicly listed company. They have a legal obligation to keep the maximum profit they can, so they'll only ever pay the industry the minimum they are obliged to. They've really got a hide calling the corporates parasites when they are making tens of millions from racing but still force the closure of non-profitable tracks.

"We can only hope the NSW Government ends up fully deregulating in this state and doesn't fall for this bluff. If they allow corporates to advertise here in NSW and keep the turnover taxes realistic like the NT government has, they will get every single corporate bookie in the country into this state. It fascinates me how the TAB has convinced the people in power here that the taxes collected from the TAB turnover plus the corporates turnover plus the betting exchanges turnover is going to be less than the TAB's alone. They must have used the same calculator they used to work out that $100m for a business they could put together themselves for $5m was a good buy."