According to racing officials and wagering sources, the major online sports betting companies in Australia have made a commitment not to wind back their multimillion dollar sponsorship and investments in Victoria racing due to the new digital gambling tax.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a wave of new state-based betting taxes had caused nervousness within the Australian racing and wagering industry follow warnings from business leaders and gaming analysts that a number of Australia’s online-only corporate bookmakers would not be sufficiently profitable to absorb a huge hit to their margins and could be forced to slash spending on marketing and sponsorship.
The new state-based “point of consumption” taxes across Austria would mean that online betting companies such as CrownBet, Sportsbet, Bet365 and Ladbrokes will have their revenue taxed based on where bets are placed and not where they are licensed. A recently announced 8% tax in Victoria alone is expected to generate over $30 million a year.
However, Giles Thompson, Racing Victoria’s Chief Executive, said that several of the wagering providers had “given undertakings to the three racing codes that they would maintain their support of the industry, so long as the Victoria tax rate remained at 8 percent.
Thompson went on to say that the major wagering service providers have committed to continue their critical support of, and investment in, Victoria’s racing industry. He added that this includes support and promotion of all three codes as key wagering products on the wagering service providers’ owned platforms, as well as industry media assets such as Racing.com and club sponsorship agreements.
