Interview with Two Way CEO Ben Reichel
By: DAVID DUFFIELD

DD: When was Two Way formed and what does your company do?

BR: Two Way was formed in 1991 and listed on the stock exchange in 2004. We develop advanced interactive media and gambling applications. These include Sky Racing Active, the interactive TV betting service now being offered by Tabcorp to Foxtel subscribers. We also operate the Way2Bet website, which provides a range of information (including odds comparisons) to help punters bet better. And we operate interactive TV games services on Foxtel, Austar and Sky New Zealand.

DD: Your Sky Channel and Tabcorp interactive betting service was launched in April of this year. How does it work and have you been pleased with the early interest from punters?

BR: Our service is available to Foxtel and Optus TV subscribers in Victoria and NSW. Subscribers launch the service by pressing the red button on their Foxtel remote. The service provides detailed information for all thoroughbred, harness and greyhound race meetings on which Tabcorp is conducting wagering each day. The information provided includes track conditions, detailed form guides, scratchings, approximate dividends, results, and final dividends. All of this information is updated automatically in real time.

In addition to accessing the above information, subscribers in Victoria can access their TAB wagering accounts, and place all types of bets (including exotics). At this stage, betting is not yet available in NSW.

We are extremely pleased with the early response from punters. Feedback on the service has been uniformly positive. The service is fast and responsive, and very easy and intuitive to use. All transactions are encrypted, safe and secure.

DD: How much potential do you see for this ‘remote-control betting’, considering people can already bet from home using the internet, mobile phones and landlines?

BR: For punters, the service offers a new level of convenience. If punters are watching the Sky Racing channel, they have the Foxtel remote control in their hand already, so why not use it to get relevant information and, if they wish, to place bets? So far, the number of bets and the level of turnover through the service has exceeded our expectations.

DD: What do you say to critics like Opposition communications spokesman Bruce Billson, who has cited problem gambling as the reason he wants your interactive gambling service banned?

BR: Our service includes all necessary and appropriate consumer safeguards. Betting through the service is available only to TAB account holders, who must satisfy identification requirements. Further, subscribers can use a PIN code to block access to the Sky Racing channel. This is in addition to the 4 digit PIN that is required to access a TAB account. The service also includes extensive responsible gambling messages on screen. Accordingly, our service offers more extensive consumer safeguards than current internet and telephone wagering services.

In any case, problem gambling in Australia is overwhelmingly associated with poker machines, not wagering services like ours. With wagering there is an element of skill, and it is possible to make money as a punter in the long run. That’s not the case with pokies.

DD: Right now your betting agreement is with Foxtel and Tabcorp. Do you envisage being able to set up similar agreements in the future with free-to-air stations for betting on sports telecasts?

BR: Our technology can easily be extended to handle sports betting. At the moment though, the free-to-air networks don’t have the necessary technical platform to be able to offer interactive services like ours. That may change in the future, with new equipment like the TiVo set-top box. In the near future though, only the pay TV operators can offer services like ours.

DD: How quickly do you think mobile phones will become a popular betting tool?

BR: They already are, of course! The obvious advantage of mobiles is that they can be used to place a bet anywhere. However, if a punter is at home, or anywhere else where a Foxtel service is available, our service is much faster and easier to use.

DD: Betting ‘in the run’ is hugely popular overseas, with punters able to bet during a horse race or sporting event. In Australia we’re currently restricted to phone betting only if we want to have a bet during a game. Do you think this will change in the short-term to allow punters to bet via the internet and/or their remote-control?

BR: It is crazy that you can make in-the run bets via the phone, but not via the internet or remote control. However I can’t see the restriction on in-the-run betting being lifted in the near future.

DD: Thanks for your time.

David Duffield provides horse racing tips, ratings, lay betting and sports tips that will help you turn into a winning punter. To learn more please visit Horse Racing Tips.

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