'Tabtime' - Tabcorp’s retail reinvention

[Murray Fish]

 

By Bren O'Brien - May 29, 2025

Will Tabcorp’s renewed focus on retail deliver the wagering revival it is hoping for? Bren O’Brien dives into how it intends to reinvent the in-venue betting experience.

Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan has revealed ambitious plans to reinvigorate the wagering firm's retail footprint. (Photo: Tabcorp)

If Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan needed a reminder of the importance of retail, he would have got it while he was exchanging pleasantries and making introductions at the Magic Millions sales grounds in January.

He may have been in thoroughbred industry heartland, but he was also in the ‘House of Gerry’, witnessing first-hand how the most influential Australian retailer of the last 50 years goes about his business.

Gerry Harvey and Katie Page made Harvey Norman and a swag of other retail brands, commercial juggernauts. They may not have founded Magic Millions, but under their expert eye it has developed into a retail bloodstock powerhouse, a clear rival to Inglis as the biggest player in the industry.

A bit like Tabcorp, while rivals have domination in the online space, faith in bricks and mortar has stayed the journey, be it selling TVs or selling horses.     

An old, unsourced quote from Harvey points to why this approach has worked.

“Most people will not try anything new: their minds are not open to new ideas. But a retailer must be constantly looking for new ideas and trends,” he said.

Tabcorp has been described as many things over the years - a wagering and media behemoth, a gaming services company, a now-divorced lottery outfit, but it has been a long time since its future has been seen as retail.

Retail became a millstone around its neck during the pandemic. In an era of lockdowns, brick-and-mortar was a liability and retail returns slumped 27.9 per cent, and fell behind digital for the first time in 2020.

As wagering boomed post-pandemic, retail, which Tabcorp has a near nationwide monopoly over, continued to decline. It also endured competition in that space from the likes of Entain, who looked to establish a quasi-retail offering through venue sponsorship.

As cash no longer became king, and online betting exploded, the value of having a location where you could physically gamble diminished greatly.  

But as McLachlan took the reins last August, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope in the retail landscape. Amid a broadly disastrous 2023/24 annual report, which confirmed a loss of $1.36 billion, there was news that retail had grown for the first time in four years.

“I see significant value in our unique retail business. People are back in the pubs,” McLachlan said in his AGM address last October.

”Cash betting outperformed digital in FY24 and I'm working closely with the team to continue to leverage our retail footprint.”

McLachlan has spent much of the past six months formulating Tabcorp's new approach to retail. He has brought in Jarrod Villani as chief commercial officer and Michael Fitzsimons as chief wagering officer to spearhead that strategy.

To seriously move the market in retail, an area which Tabcorp has a massive foothold through over 9000 venues, McLachlan also needs the hotels, which host so many of these venues, on his side.

Gerry Harvey - Master Of The Trade

As the Australian Financial Review reported this week, much like an old-style retailer would walk the floor, the Tabcorp CEO and his team have been working Australian Hotels Association (AHA) functions, selling their dream for a new era of wagering retail.

The first signs of new innovation in this space came earlier this month when McLachlan announced that Tabcorp was trialling in app, in play sports betting at a handful of venues.

In the words of one insider “Tabcorp was tired of punters sitting in TAB-sponsored venues and betting on blue and red apps and not with the green app.”  Access to live, in-play betting via an app would give them a reason to bet through TAB.

It was a small but significant play. And the strongest sign in a while that Tabcorp was willing to back in its product, and innovate, rather than just talk about it.

Tabcorp uncertainty persists as NSW government drags heels on funding review

Then followed the story, also broken in the AFR, that Tabcorp was proposing to change up the commercial and customer retail experience.

It would offer venues the carrot of a revamped experience, with spending on fit-outs and greater generosities for customers, with the stick of cutting the commissions it pays for putting betting infrastructure in such as EBTs and machines.

“This investment will make pubs and clubs busier and is at the heart of our business,” McLachlan told the AFR. “We will be injecting unprecedented levels of promotions and new initiatives into our retail network over the next 12 months as we aim to revitalise our retail offering.”

Think less of the dingy agency or pub-tab experience of old, and more the Apple store with bonus bets.

The AHA is worried that this may negatively impact smaller venues, particularly those in the regions. The deal would end commissions for 1300 pubs, which fall below a turnover threshold. Some would be exempt due to their remote nature, but there would be no incentive for others to continue.

National significance – Why a single tote matters so much for Tabcorp and Gillon McLachlan

This initiative may result in fewer retail venues, but Tabcorp is betting on growing the engagement in its bigger outlets.

Thursday to Sunday is being targeted as the window for greatest engagement, with Saturday afternoons tagged as ‘Tabtime’ incentivising retail participation. The better a venue performs, the more Tabcorp will support them.

Tabcorp doesn’t envisage the return of cash-first betting, but instead a new generation betting in app through venue mode and being rewarded for doing so.

It gives them the best opportunity to leverage their major advantage over their rivals and turn bricks and mortar into dollars and cents.

“I see significant value in our unique retail business. People are back in the pubs,” Tabcorp boss Gillon McLachlan

While McLachlan insists “people are back in the pubs”, for this strategy to really work, it will involve a change of behaviour. It is still fundamentally easier, cheaper and better experience to be on the couch at home, particularly when it comes to racing.

It will also involve considerable co-operation from the venues. Something is far from a given when you consider that there is risk in this approach for them. As AHA’s Stephen Ferguson pointed out this week in a meeting.

“The venues that currently earn probably about $8320 or something like that will go to zero overnight in an FY26 in NSW,” Ferguson said. “They’re going to have to keep paying $4500 for their terminal so ... those pubs will be $4500 in the red.”

Perhaps McLachlan and his team could lean back on some further advice from Harvey, offered to journalist Malcom Knox a couple of years ago. Invest trust in those who know how to run a retail business rather than assume your approach is better.

“You can’t build a big business if you’re untrusting. I know people who were better at their retail operations than me, and who were successful, but because I trust people and delegate, I could open more stores and make more money. It’s no different in the horse business,” he said.

[The Centaur]

Interesting article.

The key to in store betting is the creation of a temporary account being an extension of the deposit slip. That way the customer comes in and funds temp account by cash or direct transfer from bank as an oncer. To make bet customer scans temp slip and straight away starts betting as if normal TAB account. Along the way various aids e.g. qrcodes can be used and bonuses from the actual venue for such things as meal or drink credits. At the end of betting the balance is transferred back to bank a/c or paid out at the venue in cash.

 TAB should not go overboard with ID verification as there is sufficient ID fallbacks such as phone, CCTV etc for security. It's got to the point that ID is a huge dissuader to TAB participation.

[Chief Stipe]

4 hours ago, The Centaur said:

The key to in store betting is the creation of a temporary account being an extension of the deposit slip. That way the customer comes in and funds temp account by cash or direct transfer from bank as an oncer. To make bet customer scans temp slip and straight away starts betting as if normal TAB account. Along the way various aids e.g. qrcodes can be used and bonuses from the actual venue for such things as meal or drink credits. At the end of betting the balance is transferred back to bank a/c or paid out at the venue in cash.

Isn't that how the ENTAIN TABNZ pods in bars in New Zealand work now?  Except giving food and drink handouts.

4 hours ago, The Centaur said:

TAB should not go overboard with ID verification as there is sufficient ID fallbacks such as phone, CCTV etc for security. It's got to the point that ID is a huge dissuader to TAB participation.

They don't at the moment with the Pub Pods.  The built in camera has got your picture when you bet especially when you bet big.  If you use a credit credit that ID is recorded straight away.  BTW on the new machines you have three ways of funding your betting - credit card (paywave is available now), voucher and cash.  If you start pumping a lot of cash in the staff at the pub will get a call from ENTAIN and ask who is it.  ENTAIN need to be quite vigilent as they don't want to get into AML breaches e.g. like what they are defending in OZ.