A big 2024 in NZ but more to come in 2025

The year 2024 started with some big targets at Entain Australia and New Zealand as we build on our strategic partnership in New Zealand, and reflecting on the past 12 months, we've been able to deliver them all to Kiwi racing and sports lovers.

We have been determined to deliver changes that not only improve our offering to New Zealand TAB (and now betcha) customers that also benefit the racing and sports industry thanks to more customers engaging on a week-to-week basis.

If we go by the simple metric of increased engagement from our customers, we can safely say we have met that mark. Our active customer figures are consistently up year-on-year, particularly in racing, where Kiwis are falling back in love with the thrill of racing.

That can only be achieved through improvements across the board.

While work went on behind the scenes on migrating our betting technology onto a new platform, Trackside went through a major refresh, which launched in early April.

You may have seen more presenters out and about, including world-class talent like Jayne Ivil and Guy Heveldt (with Brittany Graham to join us in 2025). The brilliant broadcasting team have made sure the likes of Big Saturday, Friday Night Lights and Sunday Session are appointment viewing. Best of all, we’ve brought Trackside back to the masses by returning our channels to Freeview.

Hot on the heels of the Trackside refresh, the new TAB betting platform was released in late April, delivering a faster, sleeker digital betting platform with new products like Same Race Multis and Blended Multis and increased harm minimisation tools for our customers.

The new platforms also provided the first glimpse at the relaunched TAB brand, which went far and wide from late May. We know that the commercials are playing a big role in our increased customer engagement and the change in how Kiwis perceive TAB.

Our digital-only brand, betcha, went live in August, and with it came fresh thinking, a new way to engage the newer generations, and options to make betting more social and fun. As the official wagering partner of Auckland FC, betcha is part of an exciting new wave of brands in Auckland.

We’ve had runners in slot races like The Quokka, TAB Trot, The Race By Grins, The Everest and The Velocity. We also launched the Entain Industry Excellence awards for New Zealand’s future leaders and emerging stars under the age of 40, and the awards night in late July was truly a highlight of the year. We also launched the TAB Racing Club in late September to introduce TAB racing fans to the fun of ownership without the cost, and our first crop of 2-year-old runners are looking like they're ready to run.

Now that we have just had the three cricket tests against England, it’s also timely to mention the arrival of Sport Nation (formerly SENZ) to our team.

Looking ahead to 2025, we’re taking our retail network of more than 450 outlets to the next level, with new over-the-counter and self-service terminals being delivered.

The new and improved self-service terminals are fast, modern and innovative. They are also neatly aligned to our digital platforms, which will make it so much easier for customers who love both the retail and on-course experiences, and betting through the TAB App or tab.co.nz.

Bring on 2025!