Everybody wins??

One of our preferred stock plays is listed gaming machine manufacturer Aristocrat.  Not only does it have a global reach with its leading edge technologies and pipeline of games, but you only need to go to a casino at 5am to see that gambling isn’t going anywhere.

Governments in general have one key issue with problem gambling….there’s not nearly enough of it!  It is by far the easiest source of revenue for any cash strapped state government.

With that in mind, we here at 20/20 marvelled at the NSW Government’s welcoming with open arms the arrival of Ticket In-Ticket Out technology (TITO).  TITO refers to cashless pokies.  You put money in but when you want to cash in you are issued a ticket that can either be taken to another machine or to a cashier to be paid out.

The NSW Government argues that TITO will go some way in reducing tackling problem gambling.  They contend that problem gamblers don’t want people to know that they have a problem.  Forcing people to face cashiers after a gaming session should in theory provide some disincentive.  Interesting.  Perhaps they are exoecting cashiers to automatically do that disapproving tut, tut, tut sound whenever a patron approaches to get paid out….

The one flaw in their rhetoric is that problem gambling by definition suggests there are rarely winnings left to collect.  If there were winnings, then the gambling wouldn’t be a problem….it would be investing.

Continuing on their train of thought, I shouldn’t be surprised if my new, barely street legal, turbo-charged, 5ltr V8 helps my chances of not losing my driver’s licence.

For now however, the best bet seems to be to buy Aristocrat…it is after all now Government endorsed…

Eddie the Boner has landed…

Just like Prince Harry, Eddie McGuire’s tour of duty has been cut short, deemed too dangerous.  So, Eddie’s going home.  But what went wrong?

The ubiquitous Eddie was always going to struggle in Sydney.    Sydneysiders had failed to warm to Eddie.  They didn’t appreciate how far he’d come.  Melburnians had watched this kid from the wrong side of the tracks transform himself into the country’s most valuable media property.  Furthermore, somewhere along the line he had found the time to turn the Collingwood Football Club into the most financially viable sporting club in the country.

The Sydney glitteratteri (a fictitious word created by a bloke called Fish) however never took to the Victorian Royalty.  They preference for adulation rests with those of inherited wealth with an insatiable appetite for the social pages like Justin Hemmes and Kate Waterhouse rather than acknowledge just how far self-made Eddie had come.

Channel 9 was already a basket case before Eddie became the Big Cheese.  Ratings were in terminal decline, cost cutting was the order of the day and morale was low… 

The hope that Eddie was expected to bring was short-lived.  Before he even had a chance to work out if he had to dial ‘0′ to call out on his new phone, he was directed to ’bone’ 100 staff.  Later he had to address the issue of what to do with the Nurofen-inducing Jessica Rowe predicament amongst other unpopular decisions he had to make (such as keep Bert Newton on the payroll to help him fund his love of the punt…I guess also being a casino operator meant that you have to look after your best customers). 

How could Eddie have had any chance to resurrect Ch 9 when his bosses we actually pulling back their investment in the station and were in fact looking for an exit strategy?

So our carryover champ finally pulls up stumps and just like on Who Wants To be A Millionaire, nobody leaves empty handed.  He did after all manage sneak off with Nine’s Melbourne boss, Gary Pert, to run Collingwood…

Donut doesn’t cut it…

Macquarie Bank’s Allan Moss is easy media fodder.  Not because Australia’s most powerful banker looks more like the frail, old bloke flogging poppies at the train station on ANZAC Day, but rather because of his $30m plus pay packet.

The papers have had a field day.  They’ve thrived in calculating statistics such as the equivalent number of prime ministers, teachers, doctors and construction workers $33m could provide.  They also suggested that Allan earns the average Australian salary (ie, $45k) in just 3 hours….

That’s pretty much where their hype stopped….and mine started…

Firstly it’s important to note that the press assumed that Allan only worked 8.5hrs a day…A bit rough suggesting that this investment banker only worked what his peers would regard as a half day for that industry.

Anyway, here are some real stats:

• Allan earns $124 in the time it takes to cook 2-Minute Noodles
• By the time Allan gets back from lunch he is $22k better off
• He has earned another $10.45 in the time it has taken you just to read this sentence

While I love hype as much as the next Today Tonight watching amoeba remember that while Allan earns $15k an hour on their metrics, his company has earned a $660k profit in the same time under his guidance.  In that context his salary doesn’t seem so silly anymore…and it goes some way to explain why Macquarie’s corporate logo is money (the holey dollar).