Chapter 2: Market overviews
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed that the operators active in the country’s gaming
market experienced a record level of betting activity during the 12 months through to 30 September
2015.
The organisation’s national accounts showed that in the period, a record amount of A$24.1bn was
outlaid on gaming, a total that represents approximately A$1,000 for every person in Australia. This
level of expenditure is, according to The Economist, the highest in the world on a per capita basis.
Average annual growth over the past decade stands at around 3%, with the ABS reporting that the
market’s performance during the 12-month period represented “above average” growth.
The impressive figure came after operators reported also reported a spike in wagers during the three
months to the end of September, with this total up by 6.1% year-on-year to a record quarterly figure of
A$6.5bn.
Australia’s biggest bookmaker is TABCorp, the historic monopoly operator for sports betting. It has
outlets set up all over the country across many pubs and clubs. It has only been in the last few years
that other, often overseas-owned such as Paddy Power's Sportsbet, companies have challenged
TABCorp’s dominance of the Australian sports betting market (see Chapter 7).
Sportsbet
Overseas operators with a foothold in the lucrative Australian market include Ladbrokes, William Hill
and Paddy Power.
Paddy Power’s Australian Sportsbet operation saw betting turnover rise one-third and revenue up
nearly one-quarter between July and November 2015. The ranks of new customers swelled by 22%
and in-play telephone betting stakes rose 38%, which is enough for Sportsbet to justify continued
investment in its telephone operations. Sportsbet recently launched its new Punters Club offering,
which has already witnessed the birth of 5,000 betting clubs, leaving the company optimistic that the
product will add a further boost to future revenue.
William Hill meanwhile will boost its Australian marketing budget by A$10m to build awareness of its
own brand after acquiring Sportingbet, Centrebet and Tom Waterhouse and subsequently dropping
those brands - putting pressure on incumbents Tabcorp and Tatts Group, as well as new start-ups like
BetEasy and Ladbrokes.
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