Tabcorp Holdings has invested $33 million into Dabble Sports and acquired 20% of the social betting group. Dabble has a 150,000-strong customer base, mostly comprised of young bettors. According to a Taylor Collison analyst, Dabble’s app is the most downloaded mobile betting product in Australia outside Tabcorp and the big international bookies.
The terms of the deal also stipulate that, because Tabcorp now owns one-fifth of Dabble shares, it will be able to appoint a director on the Dabble board.
The investment also comes at a time of some major restructuring taking place at Tabcorp. The wagering giant demerged with The Lottery Corporation and sold loyalty platform eBet to Frank Makryllos, a former Tabcorp executive.
Most Dabble Users are in their 20s or 30s
Dabble was founded in 2020 by former Pointsbet executive Tom Rundle. What makes Dabble unique is the fact that it allows you to place your own wagers but also to copy bets placed by your friends or punters you follow.
Tabcorp entered the Dabble deal hoping to get back some of the customers it lost to rival bookies, mainly Ladbrokes and Sportsbet. Tabcorp Holdings CEO Adam Rytenskild said that the company was trying to attract younger bettors and that 80% of Dabble’s 150,000 users fit that description.
To entice that age group, Tabcorp also released an updated version of its app last month. The Tabcorp app, which uses Google’s Flutter toolkit, was launched just in time for the spring racing season in Sydney. In addition, the betting operator struck an extended partnership with the Australian Turf Cup and obtained the naming rights of the Everest Cup as part of a deal.
Social Betting Apps in the Focus
When the updated app went live, Tapcorp also announced that it will launch a social wagering platform and give punters the ability to place same-race multi bets going into the Christmas season, in an attempt to mimic the social betting-oriented sites that Ladbrokes and Sportsbet boast.
Andrew Orbach, an equities analyst, predicted that the social betting segment would continuously grow in Australia over the next two years. He noted that downloads of betting group apps, such as Dabble, made up 11% of all betting app downloads in the country, and that Dabble was the most downloaded app in this category. It had 21,000 downloads in August, accounting for 80% of the total social betting app downloads.
Tabcorp Upgraded to a “Buy” Rating
Tabcorp, valued at $2.1 billion, turned down a $3.5 billion bid from Entain last year, but the Ladbrokes and Neds owner could return with another offer.
In May, Tabcorp was downgraded by Goldman Sachs, but Macquire analysts once again upgraded the group to a “buy” rating after the betting operator benefited from the betting tax hike in Queensland and announced its new strategy.
Tabcorp shares are currently trading at $0.94, but Macquire analysts predict the group will trade at $1.20 until July next year.
Take a look at Dabble in our in-depth Dabble review of the betting site.
