IN an EXCLUSIVE in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, controversial bookmaker TOM WATERHOUSE has apologized and announced plans to immediately cut back on his advertising during rugby league telecasts on the Nine Network.
Here is what WATERHOUSE told THE TELEGRAPH:
I AM sorry. I have listened to the PM and Australia and have made the call with Channel 9 to dramatically cut back on my advertising from tonight.
I love being a bookie and that is all I want to do.
Through advertising I have tried to compete with the overseas corporates who have taken over betting in Australia, and also with the TAB.
Competition is always good for the customer – the punter.
I’d like to share a few facts about my business, tomwaterhouse.com.
My online business is still young and striving to grow and so I have needed to advertise heavily. This is the reality of being a privately owned, proudly Australian company – employing around 100 Australian workers – trying to take on some very big foreign players in an intensively competitive market.
Because I stand up as the bookmaker, and do not present as a faceless corporation, I also have, somehow, become the public face of the entire Australian gambling industry.
If people have an issue with gambling, it seems to become an issue with me personally and I have to cop it on the chin.
It is worthwhile however, to put a few things in perspective.
For starters, even though advertising has been allowed since 2008, I understand betting turnover has not risen (apart from CPI) since 2007. What has changed is that the TAB’s share has dropped with competition, and the corporate bookmakers have grown.
This is not surprising as online bookmakers offer punters a better deal and better service.
This is healthy competition.
In Australia, racing and sports betting is a small fraction of the entire gambling industry. Tomwaterhouse.com has around 5 per cent of the racing and sports betting market and we actually only spend approximately 5 per cent of the betting advertising dollar.
Punters like to watch sport, so I have focused on sports advertising, which flows through to benefit the sports.
My competitors include offshore giants such as sportsbet.com.au (owned by Paddy Power, UK) and sportingbet.com.au (owned by William Hill, UK) as well as local giants such as the TAB, who enjoy a retail monopoly on racing and sports betting.
I am taking on the big boys!
As I said earlier, my passion is bookmaking.
I would love to be still betting at the track but the world has moved on and punters want to be able to bet online.
However the public has spoken and you will see less of me on TV.
I have listened.
EXCLUSIVE TO THE DAILY TELEGRAPH - NEWS LIMITED.