Greek Betting Giant Eyes Off Victorian Tote
Ever heard of Intralot? Well if the greek based company has their way you'll be hearing a lot from them in the near future. The Herald Sun has reported that Greek gambling giant Intralot, will make a play for Victoria's thoroughbred, harness, greyhound and sports betting codes.
The Brumby Government recently announced changes to the state's $5 billion gambling industry last month, breaking up the duopoly of Tattersall's Group and Tabcorp Holdings.
Intralot's shock declaration sets up a winner-takes-all showdown with current licence holder Tabcorp and interstate tote operator Tattersall's.
All three cashed-up gambling consortiums have now announced their intention to bid for the licence, which is up for grabs from January 2012.
A high-stakes tender process will begin next year in a move set to reap the Brumby Government hundreds of millions of dollars in additional gambling taxes.
According to the paper, Intralot also plans to bid for the rights to control the monitoring of the state's pokies industry. Intralot managing director John Katakis, told the paper he is very serious about the bid to holf the licence.
“We are considered the number one sports bookmaker in the world. We are a very strong company,”
“We are always serious about business – we don't do business for fun. We're very aggressive and we're here to stay.”
The Athens-based company, boasting operations in more than 40 countries, won probity clearance in Victoria last year after being awarded a 10-year lottery licence and it will begin selling a range of instant lottery products across the state from July 1.
The Herald Sun reports that speculation has been mounting that Tatts and Tabcorp, who lost control of Victoria's pokies industry last month, could merge to form a wagering superpower.
Tabcorp made a bold $2 billion takeover bid for wagering group UniTab in 2006 until it was blocked by the ACCC.
UniTab was later scooped up by Tatts.
A Tabcorp spokesman said the company would carefully assess the value of the next wagering licence.
“An important part of this is the level of exclusivity offered to the tote operator and how this will be secured by the State Government,” Bruce Tobin said.
“We cannot continue to have a situation where we are supposed to have an exclusive tote licence without any enforcement.”
Mr Tobin said Victorian punters enjoyed the best tote services in the world.
Tabcorp pockets about $100 million a year from its Victorian wagering operations, but believes huge amounts are being leaked to Northern Territory online bookmakers.