British betting giant could enter the Australian market by 2012 after visit by two key members of staff.
Thursday 29th January 2009
British bettting giant Ladbrokes has expressed its interest in applying for a gaming license from Victoria following a visit to the southern Australian state by two of its key employees.
The license Ladbrokes is concentrating on is currently held by Tabcorp but is due to expire in 2012 with bookmaker Tattersall also said to be interested.
Kevin Hopgood, Managing Director of International Development for Ladbrokes, and Steve Maxwell, the firm’s Chief Information Officer, travelled to Australia last week for a meet-and-greet tour of key industry players and trumpted the company’s cutting-edge technology.
'We're here for the game,” said Maxwell.
“We've got our shorts and football boots on, we're not going to sit on the fence.”
Ladbrokes post markets on more than 50 sports and typically has around 2,000 markets every day. It has a team of 80 people specialising in different sports trading odds around the world and offers a new product service almost every three weeks.
'Australia has many attractions for us,” said Hopgood.
“From a sporting perspective there is a lot of similarities to the UK, horseracing, greyhounds, cricket, rugby, tennis. The sports and the culture are very, very similar and the betting interest very similar. We see it as a market we could deliver in and deliver a very good proposition to the Australian punter.
'The Victorian licence is a fairly unique opportunity. We would build a good Australian business making full use of our experience back in the UK and elsewhere in the world to build an Australian business. We think we can bring a good proposition to Victoria as well as our heritage.'
British bettting giant Ladbrokes has expressed its interest in applying for a gaming license from Victoria following a visit to the southern Australian state by two of its key employees.
The license Ladbrokes is concentrating on is currently held by Tabcorp but is due to expire in 2012 with bookmaker Tattersall also said to be interested.
Kevin Hopgood, Managing Director of International Development for Ladbrokes, and Steve Maxwell, the firm’s Chief Information Officer, travelled to Australia last week for a meet-and-greet tour of key industry players and trumpted the company’s cutting-edge technology.
'We're here for the game,” said Maxwell.
“We've got our shorts and football boots on, we're not going to sit on the fence.”
Ladbrokes post markets on more than 50 sports and typically has around 2,000 markets every day. It has a team of 80 people specialising in different sports trading odds around the world and offers a new product service almost every three weeks.
'Australia has many attractions for us,” said Hopgood.
“From a sporting perspective there is a lot of similarities to the UK, horseracing, greyhounds, cricket, rugby, tennis. The sports and the culture are very, very similar and the betting interest very similar. We see it as a market we could deliver in and deliver a very good proposition to the Australian punter.
'The Victorian licence is a fairly unique opportunity. We would build a good Australian business making full use of our experience back in the UK and elsewhere in the world to build an Australian business. We think we can bring a good proposition to Victoria as well as our heritage.'