Tabcorp divests Odyssey business to Australian National Hotels

Tabcorp is doing everything in its power to get the $11 billion Tatts merger approved including officially offloading its Odyssey Gaming Services business.

Competition concerns have clouded the future of the deal, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suggesting Tabcorp divest its Odyssey business to alleviate industry trepidations.

While Tabcorp bypassed the ACCC and went straight to the Australian Competition Tribunal to speed the process up, it has announced today it is selling Odyssey to Australian National Hotels.

Tabcorp has only owned the Queensland-based pokies monitoring business since August last year when it bought into Intecq – a company which develops gaming machines – for around $130 million.

When the $11 billion merger was announced, there was contention over the Queensland pokies sector since there was only two active gaming machine companies in the state – one owned by Tatts and the other by Tabcorp.

“The agreements are conditional upon the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accepting an undertaking to be provided by Tabcorp or the Australian Competition Tribunal otherwise granting authorisation for the proposed combination and the proposed combination becoming effective,” the gaming giant said.

The ACCC also submitted a List of Issues to the Tribunal last month which addresses the Odyssey situation.

Issue Seven questions whether the “divestment of Odyssey is likely to effectively address the detriments arising from the combination of the two active EGM monitoring operators in Queensland.”

The ACCC also questions whether Odyssey will survive after the divestiture.

Whether or not the business will survive may not be taken into account when it comes to the Tribunal’s decision.

It will consider the evidence submitted by Racing.com, CrownBet and Racing Victoria, all of which were granted leave to intervene. The gambling organisations all emphasise the importance of competition in the gambling industry and how the merger will weaken it immensely.

The Australian Hotels Association believes it won’t, though, stating in its submission “we see ‘first hand’ every day in our hotels the extremely rapid pace of change that is occurring in wagering, and particularly in retail wagering” even though hotels and pubs aren’t involved in bidding processes as corporate bookmakers are.

A decision by the Tribunal is expected by June 13.