TATTS BETS ON A BRISBANE FUTURE

TATTS Group (TTS) will relocate its head office to Brisbane from Melbourne next year and promises 1050 jobs for Queensland workers.

TTS has a market capitalisation of $3.9 billion and will be the third-largest company in Brisbane behind Suncorp Group and QR National.

The latest incarnation of the 131-year-old company, which has been based in Melbourne since 1954, was formed in 2006 after Tattersall’s Limited merged with Queensland’s UNiTAB Limited.

Half of the company’s current revenue is generated in Queensland.

TTS has been battling the Victorian government over poker machine revenues worth $590 million. Chairman Harry Boon says the Queensland Government offered a more “secure business environment”.

As part of the relocation, the government granted the company a 25-year extension on its sports betting licence.

Premier Campbell Newman confirms the government supported the relocation.

"We have been saying since the election that Queensland is open for business. We've made it easier for companies by reducing red tape and regulation,” he says.

TTS chief executive officer Dick McIlwain, chief financial officer Ray Gunston and company secretary Penny Grau will move to Brisbane by mid-2013, the company says.

TTS operates TABs in Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania as well as Golden Casket and lotteries in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, the NT and ACT.