US media monolith Fox Corporation is reportedly weighing its options around entering the Australian sportsbetting market via the purchase of a piece of Tabcorp Holdings Limited, a local land-based sportsbook operator.
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported that the LA-based Corporation has been speaking with unnamed investment funds to see whether an acquisition of part of the media and bookmaking divisions of Tabcorp Holdings Limited is feasible. The broadcaster has also said to have recently filed for a local trademark for the FoxBet online sports wagering enterprise that it created with The Stars Group Incorporated in 2019.
Deciding on partners
The newspaper further reported that The Stars Group Incorporated purportedly paid around $171.58 million for an 80% stake in Australian sportsbetting firm BetEasy Proprietary Limited in early 2020.
The report stated that Fox Corporation may seek to achieve a similar acquisition by potentially allying with local bookmaking pioneer, Matthew Tripp.
Competing contenders:
Fox Corporation is the product of the 2019 acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox Incorporated by The Walt Disney Company and is headed by Lachlan Murdoch, the eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The company could potentially expect fierce competition for the hypothetical acquisition as Tabcorp Holdings Limited is seemingly considering bids from the British sportsbetting company Entain and the American private equity firm, Apollo Global Management Incorporated.
The offers come at a time when Tabcorp is fielding rising investor pressure to exit the Australian sports wagering market and focus exclusively on its flourishing lotteries division.
Tabcorp the abundant
Bloomberg recently reported that the 2017Tabcorp Holdings Limited merger with Tatts Group Limited helped it reach its current local market share of approximately 57%. The company’s combined estate of over 4,400 land-based sportsbooks can be found across the country. Tabcorp’s media and bookmaking division is the company’s second most profitable division, generating 40% of its total revenues for the year to the end of June at close to $3.98 billion.
Fading interest
The Sydney Morning Herald report relayed that Tripp, a former head boss of Australian online sportsbetting pioneers, Sportsbet and also BetEasy Proprietary Limited, has reportedly made numerous bids for portions of Tabcorp Holdings Limited in the past. His interest in the company, however, appears to be waning as Tripp’s personal investment of close to $19 million in BetMakers Technology Group Limited, a local online wagering and content services provider appears to signal his interests shifting direction.
Vital connections
The publication further reported that non-industry firms looking to bid for the media and bookmaking segments of Tabcorp Holdings Limited would need to consider partnering up with an established operator to avoid regulatory quagmires. It was speculated that Fox Corporation should likely appeal to the Chairman of Racing News South Wales, Peter V’Landys, to leverage his relationship with Rupert Murdoch as he has the influence to veto acquisitions.
