Tabcorp signs five-year deal with Victorian clubs

GAMBLING conglomerate, Tabcorp Holdings has teamed up with clubs in Victoria in an exclusive gaming partnership.

Tabcorp lost out to CrownBet in the bid for a 10-year deal with ClubsNSW, but the Australian listed company won’t be overshadowed thanks to the new deal with Victorian clubs.

The new five-year deal will provide gambling and keno services to more than 100 venues in Victoria, which will in turn benefit from lower costs.

The deal will also see ongoing access to Tabcorp’s digital commissions initiative, where venues earn commission from all bets placed via the TAB app in the venues – similarly to the CrownBet app in ClubsNSW venues.

Clubs will also earn commission for every TAB account opened in a participating Victorian venue, with $57 million in in-venue digital turnover recorded by already participating venues.

Chief executive David Attenborough said the partnership will allow Tabcorp to deliver the best keno and gambling experience to patrons in Victorian clubs.

“At the same time, we are making sure clubs benefit no matter how customers choose to bet within the venue,” he said.

The deal comes after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a statement on the Tatts and Tabcorp merger, raising concerns over lessened competition.

If the Tatts and Tabcorp merger does go through Tabcorp will merge its TAB services in Victoria, as well as Tasmania and New South Wales, with Tatts’ retail operations in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

The new deal with Victorian clubs is a rebound effort after Tabcorp lost out to CrownBet for the digital partnership with ClubsNSW.

While CrownBet will also allow clubs to earn commissions on bets made with their app, what sets the deal apart is the addition of ATM-style machines. CrownBet will roll these out in NSW clubs which will allow members to withdraw their account balance instead of transferring the money to personal bank accounts.

Besides the machines, the incentive for punters is loyalty points, which can be redeemed for food and drink at participating venues.

Tabcorp didn’t take the loss lightly, with Attenborough writing to the hundreds of clubs across NSW suggesting they might be breaching the law if they went ahead with the deal.

While the claim was rejected by both ClubsNSW and CrownBet, Attenborough also threatened to pull its machines from any participating club in the state.

It’s not clear if these threats remain given the new deal with clubs in Victoria.