Tabcorp
Holdings
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Press
Release
Tabcorp
Agrees Sponsorship Agreement
23rd December 2008
Australian
gambling and entertainment group Tabcorp Holdings
Limited has signed a long-term sponsorship deal
with Harness Racing Victoria for the naming rights
to a new $30 million racing and entertainment
complex being built near Melbourne.
The
development in Melton to the west of the state’s
largest city will be known as Tabcorp Park for
both racing and commercial business when it commences
trading in early-March of next year. The deal
mirrors one that rival firm Betfair signed last
month with the Melbourne Racing Club that saw
the historic Sandown Racecourse branded as Betfair
Park for three years.
Tabcorp
Park will feature a 41-room four-star hotel, function
and conference rooms, a bistro, a gaming room,
a sports bar and betting facilities. Racing will
begin on the first weekend of July before becoming
a weekly Friday night fixture over the first year
of operation.
“We
are pleased to officially announce that from this
day forward the Melton Harness Racing and Entertainment
Complex will be known as Tabcorp Park,”
said Neil Busse, Chairman for Harness Racing Victoria.
“Tabcorp
have acquired naming rights to the complex as
a part of a long-term sponsorship deal and we
thank them for their investment in the future
of the Victorian harness racing industry. The
commercial facilities will open for business on
March 5 of next year and will service the community
seven days a week with hotel, conference, dining
and entertainment facilities.
“Following
this opening, work will commence on stage two
of the construction of our state-of-the-art racetrack,
which will be ready to host trials in late-May
and commence racing in July.
“Tabcorp
Park will quickly become the spiritual home of
harness racing in Victoria and it will provide
an important new revenue stream to support and
grow the industry throughout Victoria.”
Profile
Tabcorp
Holdings is an Australian company with interests
in gaming and wagering. It was formed through
the privatisation of the Victorian Totalisator
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
totalisator 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. In 2004, 26% of earnings
came from gaming.
3. It continues to operate off-course and on-course
totaliser 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 NSW-wide 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.
An
investigation by news.com.au reporters Will Temple
and David Higgins released on August 22nd 2007
claims that Tabcorp had secret approval from the
NSW government to loan money to “select
high value wagering customers”. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Profiles
TAB
Star
City Casino
Conrad
Jupiters
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TAB
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TAB
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