UBET it is going to take time

A NEW era in Australian wagering begins today with the dawn of the merged TabcorpTatts era but punters won’t see any material changes for some time yet.

The two betting giants become one company – Tabcorp – as of today but the UBET brand will remain for up to a year as work is carried out integrating the companies.

Tabcorp managing director and chief executive David Attenborough, who was in Queensland yesterday, said UBET would continue in the market for some time “in parallel to TAB”.

“UBET will stay as UBET for a large part of the first year as we work out systems and roll out integration,” Mr Attenborough said.

“When we can offer an alignment of product and when we have that set up to deliver to the customer, we will then change the brand.

“There won’t be a tangible change to what the customer experiences in the coming months.”

The biggest change under the new entity for punters will be the aligning of the UBET and Tab.com.au fixed price books but Attenborough tipped this was likely to still be some months away.

“We will try to deliver the change as soon as we can (but) no decision has been made on when it happens,” he said.

Attenborough confirmed his belief that Queensland racing would be about $20 million better off annually as a result of the merger, once integration was completed.