Oceania

The Formula One curtain raiser gets underway this weekend, with Melbourne once again playing host as the razzmatazz rolls back into town. Australia welcomes the glitz and glamour, to open a season which sees Lewis Hamilton aim to become back to back World Champion for the second time in his career. The enigmatic Englishman, Britain’s most successful driver, is favourite …

An operator whose in-play messaging isn’t personalised to bettors or tailored to the circumstances of the game is leaving revenues on the table, according to OtherLevels CEO Brendan O’Kane. With this summer’s football World Cup set to generate record turnover for the sports betting industry, the race to capture the hearts and minds of bettors around the globe will be …

Following this morning’s news that William Hill has sold its entire Australian business division to competitor CrownBet for AUS $300 million (€185 million), Toronto TSX-listed The Stars Group Inc has moved to strengthen its Australian position. Issuing a market update, Stars Group informs that it will move to increase its equity in CrownBet from 62% to 80%. On 27 February, …

The governance of William Hill Plc has today disclosed that it has signed a binding agreement to sell its William Hill Australia division to CrownBet for AUS $300 million (€185 million). The FTSE bookmaker had placed its William Hill Australia division under strategic review in January, as a result of the Australian government’s ban on credit betting and the likely …

Australia ASX-listed gambling group Tabcorp Holdings, has published the final trading statement of Tatts Group Limited, as the companies move to combine their operations in 2018. Publishing H1 2018 results (period ending 31 December), Tatts reports a 19% increase in period revenues generated from ordinary activities of AUS $ 1.37  billion. Tatts revenue uplift was primarily driven by its lottery …

The Australian Financial Review has revealed that CrownBet and Paddy Power Betfair subsidiary Sportsbet.com.au are the two suitors bidding for William Hill Australia. Both operators are reported to have confirmed their interest this week in pursuing William Hill’s troubled Australian business division and will be allowed to perform due diligence on the asset to prepare their formal bids. The update, …

Updating the market, Toronto TSX-listed The Stars Group Inc has confirmed that it has acquired a majority 62% holding in Australian online betting operator CrownBet Holdings, for an aggregated sum of $117 million (€95 million). The Stars Group, acquires its controlling stake in CrownBet, from Australian casino and leisure operator Crown Resorts Limited, who had placed the online bookmaker up …

William Hill’s decision to take a £238m impairment charge on the value of its Australian business saw the bookmaker report a pre-tax loss of £75m for 2017, but the firm is confident that the performance of the business as a whole is positive. While Group net revenue grew 7% to £1,711.1m, a total of £335.0m of exceptional costs and adjustments …

Aristocrat Leisure has reported a strong 2017 showing, “against a backdrop of broadly flat markets and increasing pressure from existing and new competitors”. Speaking at the firm’s annual general meeting, Trevor Croker, Aristocrat CEO, highlighted a fiscal year rise of 15% in group revenue in reported terms, to a record result of more than $2.45b. Earnings before EBITDA also rose …

Australian bookmaker UBET has unveiled a new digital product that it hopes will eventually lead to paperless tickets in its betting shops. Named TAPPY, the new product allows customers to build a bet on their phone, after which they will receive a unique code that can be scanned at terminals to receive a cash payout. Customers will also have access …