Tabcorp Holdings

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Tabcorp Holdings Limited
Image:tabcorplogo.gif
Type of Company Public(ASX:TAH)
Founded Melbourne, Australia, 1994 privatisation of Victorian TAB
Headquarters Melbourne, Australia
Key people Michael Robinson, Chairman
Matthew Slatter, CEO
Industry Gambling
Products Totalizator wagering
Casinos
Gaming machines
Revenue $2.46 billion AUD (2004)
Employees 12000 (2004)
Slogan The bigger better game
Website www.tabcorp.com.au

Tabcorp Holdings is an Australian company with interests in gaming and wagering. It was formed through the privatisation of the Victorian Totalizator Agency Board (TAB) in 1994. The TAB ran all off-track betting on horse racing, greyhound racing, and harness racing in Victoria, as well as on-course totalizator betting. Since privatisation Tabcorp has diversified into other forms of gambling. It now has four major areas of activity:

  1. It owns and operates four casino-hotel complexes; Star City Casino in Sydney, the Conrad Jupiters on the Gold Coast, Conrad Treasury Casino in Brisbane and Jupiters Townsville in Townsville. In 2004, these provided 41% of earnings.
  2. It operates poker machines in many venues across Victoria; with it and Tattersalls the only two companies permitted to run the devices. It has a joint venture with Tattersalls to run keno games in hotels across the state. It also operates a poker machine monitoring service in Queensland. In 2004, 26% of earnings came from gaming.
  3. It continues to operate off-course and on-course totalizer betting throughout Victoria and now New South Wales (through the acquisition of its privatised NSW equivalent Tab Limited) Betting is now available from many pubs as well as the traditional separate TAB betting shops, and the TAB offers bets on many sports activities other than horse racing. 28% of earnings came from wagering.
  4. It operates Sky Channel, a national horse racing television network which broadcasts into TAB outlets and hotels, as well as a small racing-oriented radio network. These provided 5% of earnings in 2004.

Tabcorp's operations employ about 12,000 people. Net profit after tax was approximately $471 million AUD in 2003-04, on revenues of about 2,500 million AUD.

Gambling, and especially "pokies" remain a somewhat contentious political issue in Australia, and like all gaming operators the efforts of Tabcorp to grow its gaming revenue can be politically controversial. Anti-gambling activists have noted that Tabcorp and its competitor have increasingly moved their allocated quota of poker machines around the state to maximise revenue, thus resulting in concentration of machines in working-class areas.

A TAB in Melbourne, Victoria
Enlarge
A TAB in Melbourne, Victoria

[edit] Incomplete acquisitions history

  • 2003 (13 November): merger of Jupiters Limited and TABCORP Holdings Limited forms TABCORP[1]
  • 2000 (28 February): AWA Limited taken over by Jupiters Limited[2]
    • 1988 (13 January): Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited changes name to AWA Limited[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Welcome to Jupiters Limited's Website. Notice of Merger. Retrieved on February 26, 2006.
  2. ^ AWA Limited. Company Information from deListed. Retrieved on February 26, 2006.
  3. ^ Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited (AWA). Company Information from deListed. Retrieved on February 26, 2006.

[edit] External links