It has been an initiation of fire for Gillon McLachlan – the high-profile former CEO of the Australian Football League (AFL) who was announced as new Managing Director and CEO of racing and wagering giant Tabcorp in June 2024.
Officially appointed to the role in January of this year, his first task has been to steady the ship for a company that once dominated the Australian racing and wagering scene but has faced mounting challenges in recent years – challenges that have been reflected in Tabcorp’s revenues and stock price.
But the early signs are promising. In August, the company reported an 11.8% year-on-year increase in revenue to AU$2.61 billion (US$1.69 billion) and a 23.2% increase in EBITDA to AU$391.5 million (US$254 million) for the 12 months to 30 June 2025, which it attributed to its reformed Victorian Wagering and Betting Licence and “modestly improved” trading conditions.
Initiatives like a new multi-lingual sports betting platform on the TAB App, which allows customers to view the product in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Vietnamese alongside its traditional English language offering, also show the company is taking it up to its corporate bookmaking rivals like Sportsbet and Ladbrokes.
That Tabcorp’s share price has climbed back over AU$1.00 after falling to as low as AU$0.39 a little over a year ago will go down well with investors.
