Former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan appointed Tabcorp chief
By Amelia McGuire and Calum Jaspan
Former AFL chief Gillon McLachlan will take the reins at wagering business Tabcorp as the company pushes ahead with changes aimed at bolstering its position in online betting.
On Monday, McLachlan acknowledged the challenges facing Tabcorp but said he looked forward to leading the company through a period of change as it responded to stiff competition from overseas wagering giants.
Tabcorp’s incoming chief executive, Gillon McLachlan.Credit: Alastair Brett
“From the outside, it looks like a complex leadership challenge,” McLachlan said.
“For me, that is quite compelling. I’m attracted to the challenge. To state the obvious, I’ve not led an ASX-listed company before, but in the end, I think the principles of leading the AFL apply: direct communication, transparency, and hopefully getting the job done.”
McLachlan will join the business in August and assume the role of managing director and chief executive upon all necessary approvals. He will act as an observer under executive chair Bruce Akhurst until then.
McLachlan, who left the AFL last year, recently signed as a senior adviser for Blackstone, the US private equity owner of Crown Resorts, in a part-time role. Tabcorp will pay him $1.5 million in addition to bonuses.
The former AFL chief executive said there needed to be balance in the intersection between gambling, sport and broadcasting industries.
“There are different views on what balance looks like,” he said. “You’ve got [the government] weighing up their decisions and then there’s the companies themselves with their own views.”
The federal government is deciding whether to ban gambling advertising. McLachlan, who gave evidence to a 2022 inquiry into online gambling harm on behalf of the AFL, said his position has not changed. Tabcorp has long endorsed a total advertising ban.
“I said at the time there’s too much gambling advertising and there should be less ... I haven’t started yet, so there may be different nuances and positions from where I was at the AFL, but broadly, there’s an alignment on that position,” he said.
Tim Costello, chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, called the appointment curious, saying Tabcorp’s rival Sportsbet had received a “great leg up” from the AFL under McLachlan, and the AFL had profited greatly in return.
“Gil opened the doors [to gambling firms] and basically said take over the game. In return, they got three bites of the gambling pie,” Costello said.
This came in the form of receiving a portion of every bet placed on AFL matches from Sportsbet, a lucrative sponsorship deal, and benefiting from the inflation of the price of its broadcast rights, he said.
McLachlan’s past comments on the social damage caused by wagering were “pious” and a “cosmetic reading of the room”, Costello said.
“Now he’s working for a company five minutes later that is about the only gambling company, out of self-interest, that actually did support the ban. So that will be fascinating.”
In March, Adam Rytenskild stepped down from his position as Tabcorp’s chief executive after a board investigation following an allegation he used sexually inappropriate language about a female regulatory official. Rytenskild said at the time he did not remember making the comments.
Adam Rytenskild stepped down as Tabcorp boss in March.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Rytenskild had led the business since it demerged from the Lotteries Corporation in 2022. Tabcorp’s share price has fallen by more than 20 per cent since the demerger was completed. On Monday, the price jumped 1.37 per cent to 67¢. The group is in the midst of a strategic transformation forced by poor macroeconomic conditions and increased competition from global wagering giants that have eaten into Tabcorp’s once-dominant market share through their strongholds in online sports betting.
Akhurst has worked with McLachlan before in his former roles at Foxtel and Telstra. He said on Monday that McLachlan’s deep knowledge of wagering, sport and racing would benefit the company.
“Gill needs no introduction; he is recognised as one of Australia’s leading chief executives, and securing Gill is a great vote of confidence for Tabcorp’s future,” he said.
McLachlan led the AFL for close to a decade and left at the end of last season after 20 years with the league. Over that time, he bought Marvel Stadium and signed two lucrative media broadcast deals, including a $4.5 billion deal with Foxtel and Channel Seven in 2021.
Tabcorp received a boost last week after NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the state would consider increasing the point of consumption tax on all bets, meaning Tabcorp’s corporate bookmaking competitors would pay more tax.
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