The fate of Star Casino, which now has been determined to be unsuitable to hold a casino licence in both Sydney and Brisbane, might have been very different if it had a media company in its corner.
Inquiries into both Star and Crown — to which state governments were reluctantly dragged — and the outrageous misconduct and crime occurring in their casinos were only initiated because of extensive media reporting, primarily by Nine’s Nick McKenzie (of course, it had been over a decade since James Packer departed Nine, in the wake of the 2006 media ownership reforms).
What if, say, Star had News Corp in its corner not merely to launch its standard holy war against McKenzie’s reporting, but to threaten any government that might take steps against Star, to warn of the massive job losses that might arise from finding it was unsuitable, to portray attacks on casinos as attacks on the great Aussie tradition of having a punt, an attack on the tourism industry, and an attack on the freedom of adults to enjoy themselves however they like without harming others?
Star, which like Crown already used many of the mechanisms of state capture, like political donations and disempowered regulators, would double its power and more by being able to reply on a media company to strengthen its public image, increase its influence over governments and deter critics.
So what will happen when, as Nine’s Zoe Samios reported today, a major online betting company one-third owned by News Corp begins operating in Australia? Matthew Tripp, who has been chair of Sportsbet, CEO of CrownBet, CEO of BetEasy and is now chair of the Melbourne Storm, aims for “betr” to become the “most prominent brand in the country” if it can secure the WA TAB licence and the Victorian wagering licence.
News Corp already has extensive US gambling operations and has been exploring gambling in Australia for years.
No one can accuse betr of hiding its intentions: one of Tripp’s executives is quoted as specifically describing the benefits of linking a wagering operation to a media company. “The genesis of the idea is the wagering company, media organisation partnership. We’ve seen that model work so spectacularly well.”
For an industry that relies very heavily on incessant advertising, especially during sports fixtures, a link to a major media company, especially one with a collection of sports content via its pay TV arm, is clearly very valuable. Sports audiences in coming years can expect to be relentlessly bombarded with ads encouraging them to wager on matches. Betr is particularly targeting young people, who are, tragically, untapped as a source of revenue by wagering companies currently. Clearly this applies to News Corp’s pay-TV offerings, rather than its other media assets.
But also valuable is the power that comes with a major media company, especially one as dominant in Australia as News Corp (betr has reportedly also been involved in talks with Kerry Stokes about investment). Online wagering companies and media companies are not just complementary in terms of target users, but in terms of the mechanisms of state capture that they employ.
Online gambling has the same potential for money laundering as real-world casinos like those run by Star and Crown. It was only in August that UK company Entain, which runs online and bricks-and-mortar gambling operations, received a record fine for failing to have effective anti-money laundering systems in place. “There were completely unacceptable anti-money laundering and safer gambling failures. Operators are reminded they must never place commercial considerations over compliance,” the UK gambling regulator said, in words that apply perfectly to Star and Crown.
In an industry where, repeatedly, we’ve seen cowed regulators and compliant politicians, who will hold to account a major online gambling company with direct links to the nation’s most powerful media organisation?
