QHA-Review_April

NEWS
REACHING FOR THE SKY
QHA REVIEW | 22
Having comprehensive sports coverage - on top of
racing vision - is vital to many pubs’ success.
But gone are the days when that’s purely about having
the NRL or AFL.
For some sports fans - younger people in particular -
US sports are near the top of their agenda in terms of
what they want to watch.
Tabcorp’s Sky Sports is bringing top level US sporting
leagues to more than 1500 TAB venues throughout
Australia.
Sky offers three, exclusive, 24 hour, seven-day-a-week
channels showing NBA, NFL and MLB to fans of US
basketball, football and baseball.
TAB’s Head of Retail for Queensland Dave Dicker
said each of the channels offered a mix of live games,
highlights and magazine shows – with the live games
in particular offering a unique opportunity for fans to lay
their bets in venues as the games unfold.
“Interest in US Sports continues to grow year on year,
particularly in the 18-34 age bracket, and the average
bet size outweighs that of other traditional sports,”
Dave said.
To illustrate, TAB figures for Queensland pubs from 1
July last year through to the end of January this year
showed NBA turnover up 12% (cash and digital) with
an average bet size of $72, well in excess of NRL and
other sports.
Similarly, for NFL, pubs saw a 32% rise in turnover with
an average bet size of $78. And for MLB, the average
bet in pubs was $68.
Dave said Sky Sports was now showing in more
than 1550 pubs and clubs, providing a wide range of
content that helped to keep customers in venues for
longer.