Oceania

The expected Tabcorp-Tatts merger (first announced October 2016) faces a major challenge as a private consortium led by London private equity firm Macquarie Group and New York fund KKR has today launched an AUS $7.3 billion (£4.4 billion) bid for Tatts Group assets. Under the proposition of ‘Pacific Consortium’ the group of investors has made an approach of between AUS …

Godolphin’s retained rider James McDonald will be re-interviewed in Sydney this week after Racing NSW studied financial statements, betting records and communication logs in relation to his victory on Astern in December 2015. The jockey was charged with having ‘an interest’ in Astern’s win at Randwick, and had his phone seized on November 15. It is understood that at least …

Stockholm listed betting exchange Spiffx has signed a joint venture agreement with leading Australian operator Cardinal House to roll out Take5Live and Spiffindex to the Australian and Asian market. Take5Live is an engaging game based on Spiffx market activity that allows customers to place bets on there being a goal within the next five minutes at pre-determined odds. Spiffindex is …

Ladbrokes Australia has become the second Australian bookmaker to integrate Digital Sports Tech’s (Digital Sports) ‘Player Props’ offering, a product which allows customers to create and customise their own bets on player performance across a range of statistics and sports, all in real time. Updating the market, Ladbrokes confirmed its B2B partnership with Digital Sports, becoming the second bookmaker to …

Updating the market, the governance of Australia ASX-listed TopBetta Holdings (TopBetta) has announced that it has signed a ‘landmark agreement’ which will see Ladbrokes Australia become the first client of it ‘The Global Tote’ service. The partnership will see Ladbrokes Australia replace its existing tote products for TopBetta’s The Global Tote system, which enables operators to participate in international betting …

Australia’s Olympic Committee (AOC) President John Coates has thrown ‘100% support’ behind calls for an A$50 million (£29.86 million) lottery to boost funding for sport in the country. The proposal comes after Australia’s disappointing 10th place finish in the medals table at Rio 2016, which continued a decline from fourth place in both Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004). Coates made …

Australian ASX analysts appear to be cool on the prospects of newly formed Ladbrokes Coral Plc acquiring Tabcorp Holdings for a reported + £2 billion offer. UK business news sources reported this weekend that Ladbrokes Coral governance had asked advisers to study a potential approach for ASX-100 Tabcorp. However, Australian business analysts have questioned the logic of Ladbrokes Coral’s approach …

Viking Fire has been launched exclusively on Betsson for a two-week period, before it is released to the general market on November 30. The latest release from Lightning Box Games is a 4×5-reel, 40-line slot game, available on both desktop and mobile. Players with shields and helmets catapult rocks at enemy ships to earn up to four extra wilds and …

James McDonald, a champion jockey in Sydney, has been charged with betting on the horse that he rode to victory on his debut. Racing New South Wales (NSW) stewards have interviewed the Godolphin’s retained rider over the betting activity on Astern ahead of his race win at Randwick in December of last year. A late flurry of money saw Astern’s …

Last week’s Melbourne Cup provided a thrilling finish when Almaddin edged out Heartbreak City at the winning post, but the amount of wagering on the day was not as exciting. According to Australian bookmaker Tabcorp, there was $141.5 million (£87.7m) wagered on the 10-race Melbourne Cup meeting at Flemington across the Tabcorp-owned NSW, Victorian and ACT TABs, which was in …