Troubled Tabcorp, Australia’s largest gambling operator, has decimated its workforce in a bid to revive its slumping competitiveness against premier Ozzie rivals Sportsbet and Entain-owned William Hill.
Founded in 1994 in Melbourne, the company–fined AUS$4.6 million (£2.27m/US$2.88m) and AUS$262,920 (£133,000/US$168,575) earlier this year for Responsible Gambling failures in its home state of Victoria–has been called a dinosaur for its over-reliance on retail operations in the face of the growing iGaming challenge.
In April it fired its CEO Adam Rytenskild after he was found guilty of sexually inappropriate behaviour.
Axed
And now it has axed some 200 jobs among its 2,000-plus personnel.
With the exception of its horseracing TV channel, Sky Racing, the redundancies are across the width of its stuttering omnichannel operations, tab.com.au and gaming provider MAX.
Despite Tabcorp shares falling by just under two percent on the ASX, new CEO Gillon McLachlan, former chief of the Australian Football League, is determined to push-on with his tough efficiency programme.
Streamlining Tabcorp operations, enhancing profitability and taking the fight to online rivals were corporate priorities hard-charging 51-year-old McLachlan told shareholders at an AGM this October.
The latest cutbacks follow a round of 130 job losses earlier this year.
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