GOODBYE 2016...
DIGITAL FUEL Toby Oddy, CEO
What have been the biggest occurrences for Digital Fuel in 2016? Sun Bets has been a major project for Digital Fuel Marketing
throughout 2016. Our company was contracted by Australian gaming and wagering giant Tabcorp to provide full digital marketing services and affiliate marketing management to their joint venture with News UK, a UK-facing online wagering and gaming business, Sun Bets. Sun Bets launched in August 2016, offering both sports betting and online casino in the UK and Ireland, and Digital Fuel has been instrumental in bringing the high-profile brand to market.
What do you think was the most important occurrence for the industry in 2016? The ominous news of a new tax for betting companies to be launched in South Australia (“SA”) broke in June 2016. It’s expected to raise an annual AU$9.2 million revenue for the state budget. The so-called 15% “place of consumption” tax on the net wagering
revenue of all betting companies offering services in SA will apply to bets on horse, harness and greyhound racing, other sports such as AFL and soccer, and novelty bets from July 1, 2017. It is the first time an Australian jurisdiction will target betting companies based upon where bets are placed, as opposed to where the betting provider is located. This move in Australia mirrors the 15% point of consumption tax (POCT) introduced in the UK on December 1, 2014 called the remote gaming duty (RGD). Though the tax in SA doesn’t come into effect until mid-2017, gaming and wagering operators accepting bets in the state of South Australia are currently steeling for more pressure due to the increased cost of compliance and additional betting duties payable. It’s this kind of financial stressor that’s deemed to drive some of the
merger and acquisition activity that we have been seeing within the gaming and wagering industry in 2015 and again in 2016. Indeed, on October 19, 2016, Tabcorp and Tatts Group announced
an $11.3 billion merger that will create an Australian gaming powerhouse expected to be strong enough to better compete globally, and on home soil thrive despite an increased number of competitors that have basically entered the Australian market from offshore. We expect this M & A trend to continue well into 2017.
What are you most excited about for the industry in 2017? We can see eSports and bitcoin as a big focus for the industry in
2017, and possibly the US markets opening up in a limited way. We saw some evidence of this with the recent development in Nevada where William Hill US became the first sportsbook to legally accept wagers on the IEM Oakland eSports event.
What are you most excited about for your own company in 2017? Our growth within Europe is exciting, and we are also looking to dip our toe in the US market. On another front, the new business Digital Fuel Innovations (
digitalfuelinnovations.com) and Digital Fuel Recruitment (
www.digitalfuelrecruitment.com) are exciting for the DF Group. We expect 2017 to be a busy year consolidating Digital Fuel’s industry reputation and building our top tier clientele.
Anything else you’d like to say about the passing of 2016 and 2017’s arrival? The Digital Fuel team would simply like to thank our peers, partners and clients for being part of our success story in 2016. We look forward to an equally professionally rewarding 2017 in the
digital marketing and gaming and wagering space, which we believe to be one of the most dynamic, challenging and exciting environments to work in. We wish all a very happy and safe New Year, and a very successful
year ahead!
74 FEBRUARY 2017
fotobieshutterb/Adobe Stock
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