Australian gambling giant Tabcorp Holdings has labelled Sun Bets, its strategic joint-venture with News UK, as the biggest international commercial initiative undertaken in the firm’s history.
Officially launched last August, the Sun Bets brand aims to compete against UK legacy operators within the ultra-saturated UK online betting sector, a marketplace estimated to be three times the size of Tabcorp’s Australian home.
Showing its intent to expand Sun Bets aggressively, Tabcorp will provide the new market entrant with a proprietary wagering platform, with the aim of scaling up its betting services for UK demands.
Speaking to ITNews Australia, the project lead for Sun Bets’ platform Tabcorp CIO Kim Wenn detailed the complexities, competencies and resources required to effectively deliver its proprietary software.
Detailing a breakdown of project resources, Wenn specifies that Tabcorp has created a team of 188 dedicated to the platform’s development and delivery. Furthermore, Tabcorp to date has spent circa AUS $20 million (£12.2 million) on the venture’s software development.
“This is very much about building something that is scalable, transferable and on our own software,” Wenn said.
“So while establishing a profitable business in the UK is important, it’s also about building more capability. Sun Bets is about extending the organisation beyond its traditional boundaries and pushing our digital team in terms of how we build products and think about betting.”
Wenn further detailed that the delivery of a UK-centric betting platform has tested Tabcorp’s existing operational value chain in order to meet unique market requirements for regulatory, legal, compliance and payment factors. “This led to us effectively building a new business platform that underpinned the Sun Bets website, including providing every technology solution to manage the business by expanding current capabilities or acquiring new ones.”
Moving forward the Sun Bets platform will seek to leverage a mass audience generated from News UK’s TheSun.co.uk portal which is in the global top 20 for news & entertainment.
Following a soft launch in the UK market, the joint venture platform will soon be tested by the UK betting market as Sun Bets aims for ‘exceptional growth’ in 2017. Industry commentators will eagerly await to see whether Tabcorp’s proprietary gamble can pay-off in a vicious but lucrative UK betting market.