Bookmakers at odds over early betting changes

The early betting landscape of Australian racing changed significantly when Tabcorp altered its approach to publishing odds for certain meetings. One rival bookmaker believes the move lifts the lid on a bigger industry issue.

A simple move by Tabcorp to shift when it puts up its betting markets has caused a ripple effect throughout the Australian wagering industry, with a UK-backed firm trying to gain a foothold in the domestic online wagering scene, hoping to fill the fixed-odds void.

Star Sports, which opened for business on an Australian platform less than 12 months ago, has revealed it is exploring its options to frame market-first odds after a Tabcorp decision to restrict offerings to selected meetings.

But Star Sports’ Shane Ciurleo said Tabcorp’s move is a reflection of an industry struggling with increasing fees and taxation rates.

“The TAB is not even in a position right now to be customer-first and provide markets for their clients because of the cost of doing that,” Ciurleo told The Straight.

“So the competitiveness in the marketplace is being taxed and priced out by (principal racing authorities) and state governments. Bookmakers are being priced out of wanting to grow revenue and grow turnover.

“All the commentary on social media aside, isn’t it like the whole industry needs to step back and ask why?

“This is a bigger issue than someone not being able to get on Tuesday before Wednesday. That’s how we’re looking at it – it’s a great state-of-the-game moment.”

The move by Tabcorp comes amid a broader decline in wagering on racing, with Racing Victoria confirming this week year-on-year turnover was down 5 per cent having dropped 10 per cent the previous year. Other states are reporting a similar trend, while a drop in wagering is being cited as a reason the Australian Turf Club is considering selling Rosheill racecourse.

Ciurleo, a professional punter before switching sides to head up Star Sports’ Australian arm in 2024, insists while early markets are not the be-all and end-all in the wagering ecosystem, they have the potential to play an important role in helping his business deliver on its founding charter while picking up market share.

“We’d love to be able to position ourselves to be able to go up first. We’d like to be able to position ourselves to use that market intelligence to frame the market because … we think there’s a gap in the market for someone to actually be a bookmaker,” he said.

“We came in with that intention. Within 40 weeks, we’ve realised pretty bloody quickly how difficult it is to do that.

“We want to be able to position ourselves for people to have a fair bet at a fair price, but it’s very difficult to actually execute that.

“We’re positioning ourselves to generate our price files and go up earlier. It’s a shame that we couldn’t … we can’t move a bit quicker on it because it’s such an important topic right now.”

The capacity for small to medium operators to compete with the corporate bookmakers on price has been hindered by a taxation and fee regime which puts them at a disadvantage.

TopSport, which disappeared from the market after being purchased by betr earlier this year, had previously competed strongly on price, but founder Tristan Merlehan, told The Straight last year that model had not worked.

“We were trying to grow by being a point of difference by being old-school bookmakers,” Merlehan said at the time.

“That was something we really prided ourselves on. We were betting everyone to certain limits, we were betting aggressive pricing, we would take an opinion and without doubt – and I don’t think anyone would argue – that we were the fairest operator in the marketplace at our height.

“Unfortunately, now with the way the taxation model is set up, old-school bookmaking is impossible in our middle tier which is very sad.”

Merlehan is now chief trading officer for betr.

Wagering industry insiders speculated that Tabcorp’s change in stance on early odds related to the capacity of the company’s trading team as part of recent cost-cutting measures and job losses at the TAB.

However, Tabcorp says those reductions were primarily in the corporate aspect of the business and had not impacted its trading team.

“TAB prides itself on being the market leader for racing,” a spokesman said in a statement.

“We’re first to market for the majority of thoroughbred domestic races and that will continue.

“Moving forward we have refined our approach to some non-metropolitan meetings whereby markets will be posted the morning of the race.”

Ciurleo says in reality the availability of early fixed-odds betting only benefits a small percentage of punters and in most circumstances rank-and-file gamblers will be beaten to the odds by syndicates or sole operators who often rely on automation to get set as soon as markets are published.

*Star Sports’ Shane Ciurleo says there are bigger issues at play in Australian wagering than the impact of delayed betting markets. (Image: Supplied)*

In other words, it is the robots who have the inside running, and in a game where someone always has – or is seeking an edge – The Straight has confirmed that select TAB punters are granted access to the bookmaker’s fixed odds API feed.

The Straight understands the feed allows certain punters the opportunity to bet on races for about a minute before the prices go live on the TAB app and website.

For its part, the TAB tells customers this method is for “recreational purposes”, but if utilised by sharper punters, it would allow TAB to have their markets “knocked into shape” before releasing them publicly.

“We take this opportunity to remind you that access to the API feed is based on adhering to the terms and conditions. This includes using access to the feed for recreational purposes only,” an email seen by The Straight and sent by TAB to an API subscriber says.

Ciurleo believes social and time-poor punters may be at a disadvantage because of delayed markets but doubts the professionals will be too worried, no matter when the odds are posted.

He says those who are well-prepared and highly organised will still have an edge.

“People are accessing opening prices on fixed odds, mainly robotically. They’d have assessed prices (and) any price that went up with a sufficient margin above their rated price, they’d knock the price off,” he said.

“Sometimes you’d be watching the opener and you’d refresh the screen and you’d see 6s to 4.60, but you never actually saw the 6s, you just saw the fluctuation.

“But I would say that the loser out of this will be the recreational punter … who can’t have a bet on a meeting on a Tuesday before he goes to bed Monday night, because he works Tuesday.

“That is the only valid argument that I’ve read on all the rantings on social media about why prices should go up early. Everyone’s still going up early for the metropolitan races. Nothing’s changed.

“I get that it is a little harder to create content around tipping and those sorts of things without prices. But is that going to move the needle? I don’t think so.”

It appears that Friday, May 9, was the day when the goalposts shifted on early fixed odds betting on non-metro Australian thoroughbred racing.

Star Sports aside, whether there’s a will from the online bookmaking fraternity for it to be revived, outside the metropolitan meetings and select provincial and country cards, remains to be seen.

But for now, there seems to be little impetus from the digital wagering ringleaders to show their hand before they have to.

Bet365 has joined the TAB in retreating from their previous practice of posting fixed odds 24 and 48 hours in advance, with rivals such as Sportsbet, Ladbrokes, Pointsbet and betr following suit soon after.

Ciurleo has called on authorities to investigate why the industry has reached the point where there is little incentive to display markets before necessary.

“The noise around the early markets should be the catalyst for everyone to step back and take a deep breath and say, ‘why, what’s causing this, what’s the bigger picture, what’s the bigger issue?’ Because it’s not about the TAB not going up until race mornings. It’s the cost of doing business,” he said.

Tabcorp, which has retail exclusivity at pubs and clubs in every state and Territory besides Western Australia, says it was a strategic decision to stop offering early prices on the majority of non-metropolitan race meetings.

That developed into a Mexican standoff, with fixed odds for Geelong in Victoria, Gatton in Queensland and Mount Gambier in South Australia scheduled for May 9 not posted until the day of the race.

Fixed odds for Victoria’s Saturday country meeting at Ararat on May 10 were also not displayed until the morning of the meeting and the change to the market dynamic has continued in the almost two weeks since.

Tabcorp’s policy isn’t stringent, with early fixed odds betting on Thursday’s Goulburn thoroughbred meeting available from Tuesday afternoon.

However, prices for Thursday’s meetings at Rockhampton in Queensland and Ballarat in Victoria were not posted until raceday.

TABTouch, the Racing and Wagering Western Australia-run retail and online bookmaker, posted odds for its Thursday meeting at Pinjarra at 2pm (AEST) on Wednesday but no other corporates followed.

The NSW provincial meeting at Goulburn, which was transferred from Wyong due to the wet weather, was previewed on Sky Racing’s Formline program which aired on Wednesday evening on its dedicated Thoroughbred Central channel. Sky Racing is owned by Tabcorp.

“This is a bigger issue than someone not being able to get on Tuesday before Wednesday. That’s how we’re looking at it – it’s a great state-of-the-game moment” – Star Sports’ Shane Ciurleo

One professional punter, who specialises in NSW racing and spoken to by The Straight, says he has already altered the way he bets due to the change in policy by corporate bookmakers to delay the release of fixed odds until race day for the majority of country race meetings.

He says the condensed timeframe sees him in a race to avoid a clash with fellow professional punters to snap up the odds on horses he considers “over the odds”, a challenge he suggests is exacerbated by the fact his repeated requests to gain access to TAB’s API odds feed have been rejected.

“It’s more about adapting and saying, ‘right, if they’re going up every race at once, what horses do I need to target and (which bookmakers) do you get on with first?’,” the punter, who did not wish to be named, said.

“(Some of the most sophisticated punters in Australia), well, they’ve got a computer and someone just goes and hits the button.

“They’re very hard to beat and that’s something I need to overcome.”

Additional reporting by Warwick Barr