SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Australian gaming group Tatts is set to be awarded more than $451m (£249.6m) in compensation, arising from the expiry of its gaming operator’s licence in August 2012.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has found the State of Victoria liable, with an announcement regarding interest and costs expected in the coming days. A statement on the company’s website said: “Tatts welcomes the decision, which upholds an agreement entered into with the State in 1995. This agreement led to the State receiving substantial additional licence fees from Tatts for the conduct of the Tatts Pokies business, on the basis that the State would pay compensation if a new gaming operator’s licence was granted to anyone other than Tatts on the expiry of its licence.”
However, it’s unclear whether the State of Victoria will appeal the ruling.
The provider has also reached agreement with the Queensland Government and Racing Queensland (RQ) to establish a new framework for the conduct of race and sports wagering.
Managing Director and CEO Robbie Cooke said: “We believe the new model builds a true partnership approach between Racing Queensland, the Government and Tatts to drive a prosperous future for racing in Queensland through a sustainable model that recognizes the needs of all participants.”
The new arrangements will extend the term of Tatts’ sports wagering licence by 61 years and bring into line the race wagering licence, with both terminating on 30 June 2098. Retail exclusivity has been secured for a further 30 years under each licence, until 30 June 2044.
The group said the framework will level the playing field, which to date has enabled out-of-state betting operators to exploit more beneficial tax regimes to target Queensland customers, siphoning significant revenues away from the industry. The regime will see the tax rate on pari-mutuel betting reduce from 20 to 14 per cent of commissions, whilst the rate applicable to fixed-price betting will decrease from 20 to 10 per cent of gross revenue.
Robbie Cooke added: “Our wagering franchise is now well positioned to fight back against the predatory operators who have for too long exploited the fiscal imbalance that has existed in the Australian wagering landscape.”
A $15m (£8.3m) (indexed to 80% of CPI) annual fixed product fee will be paid to the racing industry, together with a 2.5% share of fixed-price sports betting revenue generated from ‘bricks and mortar’ retail outlets.
Tatts will pay the State $150m (£83m) as a license fee, to be paid in four equal instalments in July 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2023. In addition, RQ and Tatts have agreed to form joint ventures in the future on a number of initiatives that will generate potential additional revenue for the racing industry.
