Tabcorp gears up for online gambling battle

Australian gambling giant Tabcorp, which recently merged with rival Tatts and now represents a formidable land and online gambling opponent in the competitive local online betting market, has revealed that its IT-digital staff has grown in the past three years from 30 to 200…and that the company’s “broader technology team” now numbers 750 people, or around 25 percent of the total employee headcount.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, chief information officer Kim Wenn revealed that the group’s major investment in digital skills over the past few years is part of a strategy to transform the business into one that is more innovative and embraces technology.

A 13-year veteran with the company, Ms. Wenn said her goal is to move all Tabcorp operations to the cloud, an initiative which will require educating and persuading regulators in order to modernise some regulatory restrictions. She said the company has its own cloud infrastructure but that regulators needed persuading on the benefits of wider use.

Tabcorp is using geolocation technology to confirm the location of players for purposes of paying commissions to bars, all part of its awareness of the importance of the online environment in the business as punters shift increasingly to the digital world.

After twelve months of development the company now has precise geolocation coverage in 2,800 venues in New South Wales, Victoria and Australia Capital Territory and has captured more than A$100 million of bets so far. As a result of the merger with Tatts, this network will be adopted in Tatts venues as well. Following the development in-house of even more sensitive location technology, the company has started rolling out a digital keno game in 200 venues.

Wenn is confident that Tabcorp, which has its own app and carries the digital experience over to its retail operations in an omni-channel approach, is competitive with major online gambling companies operating in Australia such as William Hill and Sportsbet…and she revealed that a digital innovation from the company titled Multiplier will soon be released.

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