In today's Straight Shorts, Australian online bookmaker Dabble has been licensed in the UK, weanlings to open Magic Millions National Sale, spring racing turbo charges Victorian economy, major Pattern boost for racing in Uruguay.
UK approves licence for Australian online bookmaker Dabble
Australian bookmaker Dabble has been granted an online betting licence to operate in the UK.
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) earlier this month approved the online operator to operate in the UK market.
“Our ambition is about more than market share,” Dabble chief executive Tom Rundle told gambling website EGR.
“We want to provide the next generation of wagering entertainment that isn’t just about betting, and we are really confident that’ll translate to a sizeable market share over time.
“We think our product is going to be very attractive to the UK punter of today and are very confident we’ll quickly build a profitable business within our first few years in the market, just as we’ve done in our other markets.”
Dabble is advertising for roles out of its UK headquarters in Leeds and industry insiders suggest the platform will be launched in time for the 2025/2026 English Premier League season.
Dabble has consolidated its place in the Australian wagering landscape with an emphasis on social media interaction.
The company, in which ASX-listed wagering firm Tabcorp paid $33 million in 2022 for a 20 per cent share, also relies on social media influencers to attract a younger demographic.
Dabble’s Australian app encourages interaction between customers via comparisons of bets that allow customers to copy wagers placed by punters they follow on the various online channels belonging to the bookmaker.
“We think the UK is one of the least innovative jurisdictions globally,” Rundle said.
“They had bet builder introduced, which everyone seems to have now. That’s a product that came out of Australia. Before then, it was probably in-play, which really sort of exploded.
“But other than that, there hasn’t really been much innovation, either in the promotion space or in the actual product space.
“So, we think we can definitely get a big chunk of the market there pretty quickly and hopefully get to be a profitable business.”
Dabble is also eyeing up the US market as their next destination.
“We’re not saying no and we’ve definitely looked at it,” Rundle said.
“There are a few options out there. I think eventually we’d like to probably be in as many states and as many jurisdictions as we can, that includes places like Brazil and the USA.”
Marathon weanling session to kick off national sale
Magic Millions will open its 2025 National Sale with a marathon 365-lot, one-day weanling sale, condensing the foal schedule to provide more time for mare inspections on the Gold Coast.
After consulting with vendors, Magic Millions will conduct the weanling sale from 10am on Sunday, May 25, leaving Monday free prior to Tuesday’s race fillies and mares session featuring high-class Group 1-winning breeding prospects such as Zougotcha and Atishu.
The race fillies and mares session, which includes the company’s new International Section and supplementaries, will start from 12pm while another extended day of selling broodmares will be held on Wednesday, May 28, featuring 345 lots.
The two-day National Yearling Sale will be held the following week, on June 2 and 3, where a catalogue of 430 yearlings is expected to be released.
Weanling inspections will start on the Gold Coast from Wednesday, May 21, with the broodmares beginning on May 23. Yearlings will be at Magic Millions’ Bundall sales complex from May 30.
Victorian spring among Australia’s leading economic drivers
Racing Victoria says the spring racing carnival has underlined its continued importance to Victorians with the 2024 event delivering record economic benefits for the state.
An economic impact study by IER Pty Ltd has found that the 2024 carnival contributed more than $785 million in gross economic benefit – the highest in a decade.
The spring season of racing confirmed its status as one of Australia’s largest major events with the nation’s four highest-attended race meetings with almost 600,000 racegoers through the gates - up 4 per cent on 2023 and 17 per cent on 2022.
Benefits of the carnival are spread throughout Victoria with 26 country cups showcased alongside headline events at Flemington, Caulfield and The Valley.
More than 83,000 in-scope visitors travelled from interstate and overseas and they were central to a significant increase in the value-added impact to Victoria which rose to a record $351.4 million – 25.8 per cent higher than a pre-COVID study in 2019.
Interstate and overseas visitors to the 2024 SRC stayed more than 320,000 nights in Victoria.
The impact study, commissioned by RV and supported by the Victorian government, analyses the three-month event which ran from August 31 to December 1.
“This economic study reinforces that Victoria’s spring racing carnival is one of Australia’s largest major events attracting interstate and overseas visitors who invest in our state, RV chief executive Aaron Morrison said.
“The spring racing carnival is an amazing social and cultural experience for Victorians and visitors alike to enjoy in all corners of the state as they did in great numbers in 2024.”
Betmakers plots growth course after positive quarterly results
Wagering technology platform Betmakers believes it has reached an inflection point in its growth after posting its best quarterly results since it was publicly listed in 2015.
The B2B wagering tech platform provider posted positive quarterly cash flow of $3 million, an EBITDA figure of $1.2 million with revenue growth of 3.7 per cent and a gross margin improvement of 64 per cent.
Among the company highlights from the quarter were an extension of the deal with UK Tote until 2029 and a partnership with Sportsradar. The results saw Betmakers share price edge up from 10 cents to 12 cents.
“This quarter marks a very important step forward - an inflection point - for the Company,” executive chair of BetMakers, Matt Davey, said.
“The results demonstrate the capacity for BetMakers to deliver strong financial results from a vastly improved operating model. This has been achieved through disciplined cost reduction and the deployment of its upgraded technology platforms to the global wagering market. “
Chief executive, Jake Henson said the positive result set the scene for the company’s future growth.
“We are very excited about the base from which we now launch our growth phase; the network effect of our international customer base, the scalability of our technology platforms, and the light-touch solutions of how we integrate our technology into a global network where we have tote and fixed-odds customers all around the world,” he said.
“Our business model supports growing the pie for all of the racing ecosystem’s operators, and in effect we're not trying to keep up with the racing and wagering industry- we're on a mission to rewire it so that racing is the number one betting option for punters globally.”
Uruguay pattern gets full Blue Book recognition
Uruguayan racing will get a major boost with confirmation that the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee (IRPAC) has approved the South American nation’s promotion Part I for the 2025 publication of the International Cataloguing Standards Book (ICS Book).
The promotion, which was ratified by the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA), will see Uruguay join fellow South American countries Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru with full international ratification of its graded races.
A total of 24 races in Uruguay, two Group 1 races, four Group 2 races and 18 Group 3 races, are currently included in the Other Races’ section of Part I of the Blue Book which determines graded races globally.
There are a further 26 races in Part II that are recognised as international Listed races.
