🔒 🔒 As One Pool launches, Tabcorp eyes tote-derivative deals in its next phase

While One Pool will launch without tote-derivative pools from other betting companies, Tabcorp still aims to integrate a single wholesale Australian pari-mutuel wagering in the near future.  

The existing merger, trialled over recent weeks and set to launch under the One Pool brand on Friday ahead of Saturday’s Group 1 racing at Flemington and Randwick, will combine NSW TAB with SuperTAB and UniTAB across all Australian race meetings and pool types.

Tabcorp chief wagering officer Michael Fitzsimons told The Straight that the launch will be significant but it is also about building the tote product over the next 18 months, with the combined pool as the foundation for product and technology development.

“We don’t expect huge amounts of growth, but what we have done is create a platform that we can grow on,” he said.

Tabcorp says it is discussing with rival operators contributing their tote-derivative products to the national pool while continuing to provide its own customer experience.

“Where we are trying to take this is to a wholesale tote,” Fitzsimons said.

“We’re having conversations about how they put their tote-derivative money back into the tote. I think that’s a no-brainer for all of us.”

The potential scale is substantial. Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan previously estimated tote-derivative turnover at about $6 billion, compared with $5.7 billion through Tabcorp’s tote.

Those estimates describe a market in which considerable wagering activity uses tote prices without contributing to the pools producing them. Fitzsimons wants the consolidated pool to become a wholesale offering that competitors can use.

“I think they can provide customer experience. We can have a really strong tote for the benefit of the industry,” he said.

Asked whether integration could become a reality within the next 12 to 24 months, Fitzsimons said: “I think it has to be sooner than that.”

Apart from the commercial agreements – Tabcorp had discussions earlier this year ahead of One Pool integration but wasn’t able to progress them – there would need to be technical integration and regulatory work, including harmonising rates and working with the relevant racing authorities.

“We are having those discussions about what they would need to work with us,” Fitzsimons said.

“I’m hopeful that we can get it done sooner than that, but it’s not straightforward for sure.”

In terms of the impact of One Pool, Fitzsimons is measured about what can be achieved, albeit there is significant marketing being put behind it, and a completely refreshed look on the Tabcorp-owned Sky Racing broadcast product.

Tabcorp’s tote pools have been shrinking by about 5–6 per cent annually. Pari-mutuel betting contributed roughly one-third of company revenue in FY26, down from 50 per cent in 2021/22.

Fitzsimons said the loss of business had been concentrated in win and place betting, while exotics had held up better.

“The flight has been from win and place way more than anything else. So that’s the battleground,” he said.

Fitzsimons said Tabcorp will track turnover and customer satisfaction, alongside the tote’s share of the wagering market. It will compare its performance with fixed odds and tote derivatives. Fitzsimons also wants to assess how it performs against the illegal market.

The company’s first-year objective is to arrest the decline while improving the customer experience. Fitzsimons sees that as the basis for subsequent growth.

Tabcorp expects the combined pools to improve liquidity and give customers greater confidence in staking.

It is also looking at ways to mitigate dramatic late changes in dividends, something which has become a bugbear for punters in the United States due to computer-assisted wagering.

The One Pool win-market takeout has been set at 14.5 per cent, excluding World Pool events. Some exotic-market rates will rise by half a percentage point for customers previously betting through NSW TAB and SuperTAB.

Fitzsimons wants Tabcorp to examine how the tote could incorporate features that appeal to customers accustomed to trading in and out of positions. He pointed to prediction markets and changes in financial services as areas to consider.

“It hasn’t really changed in 30, 40 years. This is very much a platform for us that now we’ve united the totes, we can now go into the innovation mode and revamp the technology,” he said.

“We’re going to see a lot of changes over the next 18 months in how we do everything around the Tote to appeal to, not only our existing customers, but to younger customers.”

Exotics offer a separate opportunity. Fitzsimons said customers remained attracted to the prospect of an occasional large payout, and Tabcorp could build bigger jackpots around selected occasions rather than relying on a routine weekly offering.

“How do we create bigger, more appealing jackpots around occasions?” he said.

“There’s absolutely an opportunity for us to grow jackpots and target it at the customers who will enjoy it the most.”

While there is considerable focus on parimutuel betting, fixed odds will remain central to TAB’s business and will be presented alongside the tote on the revamped Sky Racing service.

“Tote and fixed odds will live side by side for us,” he said.

“We want customers to have enough data, enough information, enough confidence to make their selections. And sometimes that’ll be fixed and sometimes that’ll be exotics.”

“If you want to back Ka Ying Rising in the Everest, you probably want to do it on the fixed. If you want to do any other horse, you probably want to do it on the Tote and that’s okay to work in that ecosystem.”

Customer education is another part of the program.

Fitzsimons said racing bodies had been briefed on Tabcorp’s plans and given opportunities to provide feedback.

He sees attracting the next generation of customers as a shared task, with racing competing for their attention against other sports betting options.

The One Pool trial began on September 24, with Warwick among the first thoroughbred meetings to use the unified system.

Fitzsimons said testing had run smoothly overall, although small issues had emerged with data feeds.

The operational merger will be accompanied by a Sky Racing presentation overhaul on Friday, October 2, ahead of the major Saturday meetings.

Sky’s graphics have been redone to display a single One Pool dividend. Fitzsimons said Tabcorp would have greater control over the information displayed, including race data and QR codes that let customers access tipsters’ bets quickly.

Advertising and social media activity have supported the launch as Tabcorp heads into the spring carnival.

One Pool will initially cover all domestic meetings across the racing codes. Tabcorp says international race meetings will follow in the coming months.