Wagering

The potential acquisition of PointsBet by BlueBet would create a fourth competitor at the top end of Australia’s wagering landscape. Bren O’Brien explores what that might mean, and the likelihood of BlueBet winning the support of PointsBet investors.

A small increase in the commission exchange punters pay on their winning bets is indicative of a much larger issue for customers, who are paying the price for the additional shackles being put on the wagering industry.

PointsBet, the ASX-listed bookmaker, has decided on Japanese giant MIXI as its suitor of choice in the takeover game. But spurned BlueBet won’t go down without a fight in its quest to seal a takeover which would set it up as a major player in the Australian market.

Organisers may have pulled off a promotional coup in enticing Gout Gout to run in the Stawell Gift but in a literal sense the athletics superstar will be an unbackable favourite in the rich footrace because of a Victorian gambling rule.

There may be matters of greater commercial importance to Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan but there are none so symbolically salient as achieving a national tote pool.

The exodus at Entain has continued, with Lachlan Fitt and Cameron Rodger, two of the most senior executives in the wagering company’s Australian and New Zealand operation, announcing their departure.

Australia's most determined wagering suitor, betr/Bluebet, has wed its most eligible bachelor, Queensland-based TopSport in a $10 million deal, as Matthew Tripp’s latest bookmaking project takes gradual steps towards realising its ambitions.