The territory's betting agency is for sale, if the price is right, the ACT Government has revealed.
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The battling gambling operator ACTTAB has told a Legislative Assembly committee that it is inevitable it will be swallowed up by a bigger operator as Australia's wagering market grows ever tougher.
It has also emerged that the betting minnow was involved in an audacious plan to acquire the tote licence for the state of Victoria.
ACTTAB has endured a torrid time in recent years, facing dwindling revenues and tougher competition, an alleged $1.4million fraud by an employee, and a Melbourne Cup day computer glitch last year that cost it more than $200,000.
The agency's chairman Con Kourpanidis told the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee that market conditions facing ACTTAB, ''the smallest fish in the pond'', were only growing tougher.
''The market isn't going to get any weaker by way of the competition that we face,'' Mr Kourpanidis said.
''The task that ACTTAB will face in the years going forward can only be harder than what it was in the years gone past, it's just a fact of life that there are more players out there chasing the same customers.
''I'd even venture to say that we will be taken over, either partly or wholly, by a bigger player and I don't think that's a secret.''
Treasurer Andrew Barr confirmed that a sale was growing more likely but that a pledge by ACT Labor not to sell any territory assets made a deal unlikely before the end of 2012.
''The potential time may be soon,'' Mr Barr said.
''We receive unsolicited offers from time to time.
''The circumstances are changing and changing quickly so we have to consider the options.''
Earlier in the hearing, ACTTAB chief executive Tony Curtis revealed that the agency had teamed up with its Tasmanian counterpart and hatched a plan to bid for one of the nation's richest racing markets.
''ACTTAB was involved in a process of expressing interest in obtaining the Victorian licence,'' Mr Curtis said.
''We were involved in a partnership with two other organisations and had contemplated bidding for the licence. We withdrew from that process.
''One of the partners that we were in partnership in this exercise was TOTE Tasmania.
''We were looking to protect ourselves in the event that there were no other options available at the conclusion of our current licensing arrangements.''
TOTE Tasmania was sold to the Tatts Group by the state Government this month for $118million, leaving ACTTAB's government-owned arrangements increasingly isolated in the industry.
Mr Curtis also said the agency's new betting system would prevent a fraud like the one alleged to have netted $1.4million to former employee Pamela Susan Close who is facing trial in the ACT Supreme Court over the accusations.
''The prospect of anybody engaging in that sort of behaviour and being able to manipulate the system would be fairly remote now,'' Mr Curtis said.
''The method that was used required some time delay in things occurring and those delays are not present in this technology.''
This reporter is on Twitter: @noeltowell