Racenet
Introduction[edit]
Racenet (also known as Racing Internet Service Pty Ltd) is Australia's premier horse racing website. Racenet was founded in 1998 and has continued to grow into the large organisation it is today. In 2018 Racenet was bought by News Corp Australia showcasing just how much the business has grown in 20 years. Prior to the purchase Racenet also owned a company called Breednet[1], however the two businesses has since been separated.
Racenet's headquarters are in Sydney, Australia. They also have journalists located around Australia to cover the main horse racing events throughout the entire year.
Racenet covers all the major horse racing events such as the Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup, Derby Day and The Everest. They also break the latest stories and have journalists working tireless to bring readers with the latest and most detailed information. If it is breaking horse racing news, Racenet will have the scoop.
Racenet offers form guides on all TAB (and additional non-TAB) Australian meetings. They also provide form guides on races outside of Australia, including Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand.
Other details you can find on Racenet include horse racing tips, latest results, horse/ trainer/ jockey profiles, bookie reviews and bonus bets.
History[edit]
Before becoming such an online horse racing force, one of the original owners, Glenn Robbins's provided a printed copy of horse racing tips called Bet Busters [2]. This tips where free to all and dropped off at most local TAB's for punters to use as they wished.
As the internet started to gain traction, Glenn Robbins partnered with Craig Thompson to get the business online, this transformed Bet Busters into Racenet. However, punters could still access the same professional tips and for no cost.
Headquarters of Racenet was formed in Taren Point, where the business saw growth each year. The team was predominately filled with journalists and tech gurus as the business was online focused.
Eventually headquarters was moved into the city in Sydney in order to better cater for the growing workforce. The significant growth that Racenet was able to achieve, especially over the past couple of years, caught the eye of News Corp. The process of News Corp purchasing Racenet was long and drawn out due to the ACCC getting involved. The view of the ACCC was that because News Corp had purchased Punters (a direct competitor of Racenet) [3] a few years earlier in 2016, there might be a lessening of the competition in this industry.
The ACCC made a public request for others to voice their concern of the acquisition of Racenet. On the ACCC website they explained, "The ACCC considered whether the proposed acquisition was likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition resulting from the loss of an alternative source of horse racing news and information for consumers."[4]
The ACCC gave 29 days for others to submit their opposition to the acquisition. On 15 November 2018, the ACCC announced that they would not oppose the proposed acquisition of Racenet, with ACCC Commissioner Roger Featherston explaining on the ACCC website, "The ACCC found that there are numerous alternative sources of online racing news and information for consumers other than Punters and Racenet,".[5]
Racenet then officially become a part of the News Corp empire.[6] Among many other things, the backing of this publishing powerhouse allowed Racenet to start advertising in a number of different newspapers around Australia.
Bookmaker Relationships and Changes in Inducement Laws[edit]
Over the years, one of the things that has allowed Racenet to set themselves apart from the rest is the relationships they have with major Australian and even international bookmakers. The business was able to strike negotiations with some of the most well known bookmakers and over time the relationships have strengthened which ensured better quality deals for their loyal customers.
In an industry that is very competitive, as well as the ever changing bonus bet laws in all states/ territories around Australia, most recently in NSW [7], Racenet prioritised bookmaker relationships to stay ahead of the competition. Racenet has deals with bookmakers such as Sportsbet, PointsBet, Neds, BetEasy, PalmerBet and Bet365.
In this increasingly volatile environment Racenet have been found to be a step ahead to ensure the less impact on the business as well. Now, with the backing of News Corp they have a stronger voice when it comes to any potential changes in the inducement laws.
References[edit]
- ↑ [1], Breednet Retrieved on 15th April, 2019.
- ↑ "Bet Busters", White Pages Retrieved on 15th April, 2019.
- ↑ E Koehn. "Melbourne startup Punters.com.au acquired by News Corp Australia", Smart Company, Australia, 6th October, 2016. Retrieved on 15th April, 2019.
- ↑ "News Corp - proposed acquisition of Racing Internet Services Pty Ltd (Racenet)", Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, Australia, 5th October, 2018. Retrieved on 15th April, 2019.
- ↑ "No opposition to Punters’ acquisition of Racenet", Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, Australia, 15th November, 2018. Retrieved on 15th April, 2019.
- ↑ S Thompson & A Macdonald. "News Corp seeks to back a winner with Racenet buy", Australian Financial Review, Australia, 5th October, 2018. Retrieved on 15th April, 2019.
- ↑ N Haydar "NSW Government bowed to racing lobby and granted exemptions from new gambling laws, documents reveal", ABC, Australia, 9th Octoberr, 2018. Retrieved on 15th April, 2019.
External Links[edit]
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