Last year, the state of Victoria decided to the poker machine duopoly that Tatts Group shared with TabCorp. While TabCorp continues to thrive in the online market, Tatts Group is suffering as a result of the lost business. Over the course of the last six months of 2012, Tatts Group experienced a 14% decrease in revenue from the previous half’s earnings.

It seems that the Victorian pokie business was likely worth $1.71 billion over the course of that period of time. Losing out on billions of dollars in revenue, Tatts Group will have to make up for the loss in other areas of Australia’s gambling market. On the bright side, Tatts Group has fared quite well in its other gambling operations. Excluding the business from the pokie duopoly, Tatts’ half-year profits rose by 16%.

The company’s lottery operations increased by 20% while its betting operations received a 7% boost. Unfortunately, the success experienced in these areas was not enough to make up for the loss of the duopoly, as Tatts Group experienced an overall loss of 11%.

“This should not come as a surprise given the well understood closure of our Victorian Tatts Pokies business following the expiry of the licence underpinning that business,” says Robbie Cook, CEO of Tatts. “Tatts Pokies in the same period last year accounted for 32 percent of our revenues so its absence causes a significant change in our business composition”.

Tatts Group will be looking for other means of generating gambling revenue in order to compensate for the loss. Cooke states that there are a number of outlets that the company has yet to explore. It is likely that the company will get involved in the online gambling market. Last year, licensed online betting operators thrived, and Tatts Group could take advantage of the trend.

However, Australia’s gambling laws are quite strict, and the company would have to undergo a long process in order to secure a license in the country’s online betting market.

About the Author

George Anderson
Author George, has over 25+ years’ experience in the Pokies and Casinos industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Loves to research new Pokies games on the block and follows announcements from top industry providers about their upcoming releases. As soon as a new interesting pokie game appears on his radar, George is there to check it out and give you the scoop before anyone else and tell you about all casino sites where can play the latest game. Before this gig, George worked as Pokie game tester, making him an ideal candidate for this genre of work. He is also an animal lover and a proud owner of three dogs.