It has recently been announced that the Victorian government ended Tatts Group and TabCorp’s duopoly on poker machines in the area. Failing to provide compensation for the companies, the Victoria government is now being sued for $1.2 billion. While the situation is unfair to the two gaming operators, suing for billions of dollars would damage the local economy and the Herald Sun is making a plea.
TabCorp is requesting $687 million as a sort-of refund of its licensing fees. Tatts believes that it is entitled to at least $590 million. While the government forced the two companies through a loophole when it came to the end of their licensing agreements, the Herald Sun still does not believe that it is fair for Tatts and Tab to attempt to extract this money from the local community.
“It is not as if there is some bottomless cash reserve and the government just writes a cheque,” the report says. “The compensation jackpot will destroy Budget surpluses for several years to come”. It is unfortunate that it has come to this, and the two gaming operators do not seem to want to budge.
The plea was published last week, but neither company has responded; so, it seems that they will be moving forward with their plans to file a billion-dollar lawsuit.