Tabcorp Wants More Taxes on Online Horse Betting in Australia

Some would say that there are more than enough Australian Gambling Laws. Most would consider it a safe bet that almost any randomly selected gambling operator or punter within the nation will fall into this camp. However, if the card chosen reads “Tabcorp Holdings Ltd.”, the better would lose his stake.

Tabcorp Holdings Ltd., despite being a gambling giant, has called upon the government to create a national administration to manage the financial support and taxation for the thoroughbred horse racing industry.

There is, however, a method to Tabcorp’s seeming insanity. According to Elmer Funke Kupper, the company’s chief executive, Tabcorp provides important monetary aid to the race industry in New South Wales and Victoria. Meanwhile, different territories and states within Australia suffer different betting taxes and fees.

Because these expenses vary, it promotes unfair competition. Bookmakers and online sportsbooks in Australia who have only one-tenth the overhead can still offer precisely the same bets as listed on the totalisator.

Kupper accuses the Productivity Commission of failing to make sensible recommendations in their 2010 report. According to Kupper, “the report endorses a contraction of the racing industry and a loss of jobs … [which] can be so easily avoided by putting in place national taxation and industry funding arrangements.”

Tabcorp is neither unbiased nor altruistic in their position. The horse racing industry needs capital to operate. The status quo places them in the undesirable and uncomfortable position of needing to pay the lion’s share.

While Tabcorp may be seen as griping today, they are not currently asserting any threats to the decline of quality event in the short term. Moreover, Kupper reassured reporters that even without the requested changes, Tabcorp will “be fine” and can continue performing in this competitive environment.

Present security notwithstanding, Kupper maintains “these changes play out over five to ten years, but we do look that far out. You can’t be fooled by a lot of wealth today.”

This is not the first unusual maneuver by the gambling giant. Earlier this month, the Australian online gambling firm Tabcorp bet on demerger from its casino operations.