SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The sale of Australian government owned bookmaker ACTTAB, has been labelled a ‘sham process’ by corporate gambling operators who expressed interest in acquiring the retail bookmaker.
ACTTAB’s sale has hit the headlines in Australia, as its appears that private bidders have been shut out of the sale to purchase the state owned operators assets. The government is looking to sell the bookmaker for AUS $30 million, however industry speculators belief the price to be overvalued, and that the government should be targeting a sale of AUS $10 million. It is yet unknown whether the government will meet the proposed sale value.
The Canberra Government dealings of the sale of the bookmaker have come under criticism, as some interested parties appear to been blocked from bidding for the acquisition of ACTTAB. Reports suggest that up to 12 corporations have shown interest in potentially acquiring the state owned business.
Canberra Government has been criticised for not acting in the with the best business principals in the sale of the bookmaker, by making the bidding a closed matter. Further criticism has labelled the sale as only open to Australian operator TAB and its Australian enterprises and interested
ACTTAB is one of the smaller regional bookmakers with licenses in the state of Canberra. With three weeks left to find a final buyer, the shortlist has been narrowed to two TAB owned operators Tatt’s and Tabcorp.
From this viewpoint, corporate bookmakers wasted time and resources on a process destined to favour the TAB owners.“It was always going to be a TAB,” one insider said, questioning why the government didn’t simply state a preference for the TABs instead of running a “sham”
