TopBetta lands $200m whale for Global Tote

IN excellent news for punters worldwide, the TopBetta Global Tote has attracted one of Australia’s biggest gambling identities.

The online bookmaker announced in a press release on Thursday that it had struck a deal with Sean Bartholomew, the expert form analyst and racing punter.

While the specific terms of the agreement remain confidential, TopBetta revealed that Mr Bartholomew would bet an estimated AUD $200 million into the Global Tote over the next 12 months.

According to the man himself, the bookie’s revolutionary universal betting pools are the way of the future.

“The Global Tote is the fairest system I have seen for any punter – big or small – because it has the lowest take-out rate, and I want to back its growth for both the initial benefit of punters generally and the racing industry in Australia more broadly,” Bartholomew said.

“I truly believe the Global Tote is the future of punting by creating big, aggregated pools for every punter in the world to bet into in a transparent way that delivers the fairest returns for punters and gives money to racing clubs that they are currently not getting because punters like myself do not generally bet into existing pools.”

Bartholomew added that punters of all stripes will benefit as the Global Tote attracts more and more big-money gamblers.

“The access to international pools like this is the key for punters and the future of racing codes around the world,” he said.

“It means more punters like myself can confidently bet into regulated pools, and the more big punters who can get set, the better it is for smaller punters also.”

TopBetta chief executive Todd Buckingham said that while the company did not expect to make any direct financial gains from Bartholomew’s business, the “significant new liquidity levels” of the Global Tote’s pools could pave the way for an influx of new punters and big spenders.

“The guarantee of substantial liquidity over the next 12 months in the Global Tote’s pools is very significant,” he said.

“The deal lays the foundation for the business to attract bookmakers and punters anywhere in the world to now access these pools confidently.”

Bartholomew’s agreement with TopBetta is also tipped to generate over $4 million in revenue for racing organisers around Australia.

Buckingham added: “Based on our internal historical data, wagering turnover can be grown to a multiple of two to three times the initial liquidity on those race meetings, as well as create a whole new revenue stream of race field fees for racing bodies that they don’t currently receive.”