TLDR
- Australian betting brand demand rose 34% week-on-week from November 2 to 8, according to Blask.
- Licensed brands gained 50% during the week, while offshore brands fell 35%.
- Licensed operators held 96% of Cup day demand, led by Sportsbet at 47% and TAB at 18%.
- Offshore share of weekly demand halved to below 10%, with the slide starting in mid-October.
- It was the first Melbourne Cup run under Tabcorp’s One Pool national tote.
Offshore betting brands lost ground in Australia during Melbourne Cup week, while locally licensed bookmakers took almost all of the extra attention. That is according to new analysis from market intelligence platform Blask.
Australian betting demand rose 34% week-on-week from November 2 to 8. Blask said the increase came entirely from the Melbourne Cup, and nearly all of it went to licensed brands.
The data comes from the Blask Index, which measures brand search demand. It uses signals from Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends, so it tracks interest in betting brands rather than the amounts wagered.
Licensed Brands Lead on Cup Day
The race was held at Flemington on November 3. Point of Law won in front of 97,112 spectators, the largest Melbourne Cup day crowd since 2016.
Blask called the Melbourne Cup Australia’s biggest betting day of the year. Demand on the day was more than 2.5 times October’s daily average.
Melbourne’s spring carnival showed strength throughout, the firm said. However, no other day in the period came close to Cup day.
Licensed operators accounted for 96% of Cup day demand. Sportsbet led with a 47% share, followed by TAB with 18%.
Sportsbet’s demand on Cup day was more than 5 times its own October average. Its share alone made up almost half of all demand for the day.
The Cup day and weekly figures cover different time frames. The 96% licensed share applies to race day only, while the 50% rise for licensed brands covers the full week of November 2 to 8.
This was also the first Melbourne Cup run under Tabcorp’s One Pool. The national tote began operating on October 2.
One Pool combined the NSW TAB, SuperTAB and UniTAB pools into a single pool. For the first time, bettors from all states placed tote bets into the same pool.
TAB’s 18% share of Cup day demand came under this new unified system. Blask pointed to the change as part of the setting for this year’s race.
Offshore Slide Started Before the Race
Offshore brands saw demand fall 35% during Cup week. Licensed brands, by contrast, recorded a 50% rise over the same period.
Blask said the weekly gain was not spread evenly. Licensed and offshore brands moved in opposite directions as attention turned to the race.
The offshore decline did not start with the Cup. Blask said demand for offshore brands was already falling by mid-October.
In the first week of November, offshore demand averaged about 25% of its level in the second week of October. Offshore brands’ share of weekly demand also halved to below 10%.
Blask said the weeks after the spring carnival will show which way offshore demand goes. It may recover as racing activity quietens down, or the October slide may continue without the Melbourne Cup driving the shift toward licensed brands.
