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NZ TAB completes $26m relaunch - 10th January 2019
New Zealand’s TAB has unveiled its new betting site with partners Paddy Power Betfair and OpenBet.
The new fixed odds platform and mobile app is powered by SG Digital-owned OpenBet’s technology, with Paddy Power Betfair providing odds services for international sporting events.
The enhanced site, first announced in 2017 as a response to falling market share, will offer cash-out for the first time as well as an improved in-play betting service, more international and local markets and streaming coverage.
TAB owner New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) described the new site as a “game-changer” for sports betting in New Zealand, estimating it will deliver a NZ$30m (€17.6m/$20.4m) increase in net betting profit from 2021/22.
“This is the dawn of a new era for the NZRB and for New Zealand betting customers as we deliver a more compelling betting experience and significantly enhancing the number of betting opportunities we can offer,” says NZRB chief executive John Allen.
“We’ve replaced our existing website and app with a responsive, modern and easy-to-navigate site that delivers more products and events.
“The new platform will also be a game-changer for our core business, improving business stability and continuity and by moving a number of core functions managed by our old system Jetbet, into a new platform provided by Openbet it gives us the flexibility to set our own odds on events where our local expertise outpaces the PaddyPower options.”
TAB has a notional monopoly on sports betting in the country, however its failure to prevent punters seeking out offshore rivals led to it announcing plans to enhance the site back in 2017.
The updated TAB service was due to be ready by August 2018, but launch was postponed due to extensive testing. The site closed entirely for business between Sunday evening and Monday morning in preparation for the launch of the new system, website and mobile app.
Last July it was estimated that the project would cost NZ$37-39m in total, with the NZRB estimating that it would take 3.3 years of the revamped TAB being live to recoup these costs.
Allen said the contribution of partners OpenBet and PaddyPower Betfair ensured TAB would be more competitive and therefore increase returns to the racing industry.
He said: “What they have done is ensure the New Zealand TAB, a significant and valuable industry asset, can now compete with the rest of the world, increase our revenue and in turn, our distributions back to racing and sport.”
Consumers in New Zealand spent NZ$2.33bn on gaming and gambling in the 2016-17 financial year, up 5.7% on the previous 12 months.
Madison Square Garden eyes sports betting move - 11th January 2019
The parent company of New York’s Madison Square Garden (MSG) could be set to move into the sports betting market after applying to trademark its MSG brand for sports wagering purposes.
Madison Square Garden Company - which operates MSG, as well as sports and entertainment venues in Los Angeles and yet-to-be-completed venues in Las Vegas and London, plus a number of sports franchises - has filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office referencing the use of the MSG brand across online, mobile and social media.
The filing requests the MSG brand be trademarked for downloadable mobile applications for sports wagering, as well as organising, arranging, conducting and participating in sports wagering tournaments, providing information related to sports bets, and competitions and contests.
MSG also requests that the mobile section of the trademark covers fantasy sports contests, managing and participating in fantasy sports leagues, and for providing sports and esports programming, news, previews, alerts, replays, video clips, web cam feeds and information.
The application also references the use of the MSG trademark for the provision of betting and online gambling services, with a view to arranging and conducting interactive peer-to-peer gambling competitions and interactive real-time gambling under the brand.
In addition, MSG makes specific reference to social media, saying that the trademark would apply to social networking in the field of gaming, provided via a website and web-based services.
However, the application does not feature any language related to land-based betting or in-venue gambling at the arena. MSG is home to a number of major league sports teams including NHL ice hockey team the New York Rangers and NBA basketball franchise the New York Knicks.
MSG is yet to respond to a request for comment from iGamingBusiness.com.
New York is yet to legalise sports betting, but Senator Joseph Addabbo last month pre-filed a bill setting out a regulatory framework for land-based, online and mobile sports betting across the state, to be debated in the 2019 legislative session. Addabbo followed this by filing a separate bill to legalise online poker in New York earlier this week.
Both bills have been allocated to the Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee.
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