Western Australia Decides to Sell TAB

The state of Western Australia (WA) has finally decided to carry on with the plans to sell its TAB gambling operations, after being given advice that the value of their assets was declining. The WA government has been having talks of late about privatising the state-owned TAB betting company. This has been the only state-run betting operation in Australia for the past four years now. The state’s treasurer – Ben Wyatt reported to the media that the government is indeed selling TAB as a way of reforming Western Australia’s gambling sector.

The Privatisation of TAB

The reform (mentioned above) that the state meant includes replacing the old taxes with the new 15% POCT (Point of Consumption Tax). This new proposed tax will be effective from the 1st of January 2019. From this deal, the racing sector in WA has been promised that they will be getting 30% profit from the POCT income.

A couple of years back, Ben Wyatt checked how much they would get if TAB was to be privatised and it amounted to plus or minus NZD$1 billion. However, because of the depreciation in the company’s assets, TAB betting operations may only be sold for about ZN$500 million. A couple of days ago, Wyatt reported to the media that the price is also expected to go as low as NZD$200 million.

The famous investment bank – Investec, which has been solely advising the state on selling TAB had warned the stakeholders a while back that the value of the company is diminishing, as well as its importance as many Australian players were flooding to national betting companies.

Overview

To improve TAB’s potential value, its gambling outlets will now be permitted to offer virtual racing services for the first time. More so, Wyatt added that the government is planning on providing a long-term lease of 50 years plus on TAB’s operations.