Labrokes Big Down Under?

News from Oz reaches us that online betting and high street bookmaker, Ladbrokes has been expressing a keen interest in breaking into the Australian market. So much so that Ladbrokes MD of International Development, Kevin Hopgood has been on a recce of the Australian betting and gaming market and has been meeting influential people in the industry to see how the Ladbrokes group would fit in Australia. Ladbrokes has already expressed an interest in snapping up the Tabcorp licence for Victoria , this Australian betting licence isdue to expire in 2012.

Ladbrokes have made no secret of their plans for developing the brand on a global scale, their company website has a mission statement that reads ‘Ladbrokes is focused on long-term growth opportunities in betting and gaming in the UK and increasingly in the global market.’ and ‘we will apply our leading brand and the skills and experience of our management team to expand the business into new territories’ Ladbrokes believe that they can offer the Australian betting public a complete package of products and services with the benefit of state-of-the-art technology, which is far more superior than anything currently on offer in the Australian betting market today. Without doubt the move into the Australian betting market would bring the Ladbrokes group another step closer to their vision of a larger share in the global betting market, they have already made quite substantial inroads on the European market.

Tabcorp based in Melbourne is a leading entertainment and gambling name in the Australian betting Industry and have held the current licence since 1994, and cost over $597m for the company to acquire. Tabcorp company mission statement asserts that they are preparing for the renewal of their licence in 2012 and also that the company is focusing on market growth.

Whether Ladbrokes or Tabcorp are successful in acquiring the Australian betting licence clearly remains to be seen. However there is one fly in the ointment for both camps, Tattersall’s the lottery and gambling services group have also expressed an interest in the Australian betting licence and the Australian bookies currently have them as odds on favourite.