Tom Waterhouse

Last updated

Tom Waterhouse
T Waterhouse.jpg
Waterhouse (2019)
Born
Thomas Robert Waterhouse

(1982-06-11) 11 June 1982 (age 42)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Alma mater University of Sydney
OccupationChief Investment Officer Waterhouse VC
SpouseHoda Waterhouse
Parent(s) Robbie Waterhouse
Gai Waterhouse
Relatives Kate Waterhouse (sister)
Bill Waterhouse (grandfather)
Tommy J. Smith (grandfather)
Website tomwaterhouse.com

Thomas Robert Waterhouse (born 11 June 1982) is an Australian businessman, Chief Investment Officer of Waterhouse VC, Director of TomWaterhouse.com, co-founder of investment firm ListedReserve.com. He is the fourth generation of the Waterhouse racing dynasty and the grandson of one of the first official bookmakers in Australia.

Contents

His grandfathers on both sides were involved in the racing industry. William "Bill" Waterhouse was the world's biggest bookmaker in the 1960s and 1970s. The late trainer Tommy J. Smith trained 279 Group One winners, including two Melbourne Cup winners.

Early life

Waterhouse was born in Sydney and educated at Shore, North Sydney. He received a Bachelor of Commerce & Liberal Studies at the University of Sydney, majoring in finance and marketing with the intention of working in finance. [1]

Bookmaking

Tom Waterhouse is the fourth generation of the family to embrace racing, a tradition that began in 1898 when his great grandfather Charles Hercules Waterhouse, took out a licence to operate on the flat at Randwick. The family tradition was carried on from 1954 by Bill, who set a huge betting record as the world's biggest bookmaker. [2]

In 2001, Waterhouse's father, Robbie Waterhouse, asked him if he would help out at Rosehill Racecourse, which Waterhouse enjoyed. He was only six months into his Commerce degree, but he immediately rearranged his timetable so that he could attend the races for the rest of the week. [3]

After obtaining his bookmaking licence he began working as a bookmaker on course in 2003. [4] By 2008, Waterhouse was Australia's biggest on-track bookmaker, holding more than $20 million over four days at the Melbourne Cup carnival, more than all the other bookmakers combined. [1]

For four years Waterhouse lived in Melbourne's Crown Casino for most of the week due to the protectionist betting laws in NSW. [5]

Internet based business

In 2010 Waterhouse launched an online gambling business. The company was one of Australia's largest corporate bookmakers, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Darwin. They claim a client list of 100 "high-net-worth individuals" whose minimum bet is $1000. [3] In this time, the company grew from a start-up with three people to over 100 and from less than 1,000 clients to approximately 250,000.

In August 2013 website was sold to the international betting giant William Hill (bookmaker) where Waterhouse then continued as Managing Director of TomWaterhouse. [6]

In July 2014, Waterhouse became CEO of William Hill Australia operating the TomWaterhouse, Centrebet, Sportingbet, and William Hill brands operating from three countries with approximately 500 employees, one million clients, and over two billion dollars in turnover. [6]

In May 2018, William Hill sold its Australian business, seeing Waterhouse to a two-year non-compete agreement. Leaving behind his career as a bookmaker, Tom Waterhouse took back control of his brand as a racing tipping service, which attempts to give subscribers and clients betting information, tips, and strategies to win. [7]

In July 2020 Waterhouse launched a betting aggregator service the TomWaterhouse App. The aggregator will compare odds across several corporate bookmakers and allow customers to place bets with the wagering operator of their choice. [8]

Investment business

In August 2019, Tom formed Waterhouse VC, which leverages off his 20+ years of industry experience in gaming and wagering. The fund is "almost completely focused on buying gambling or wagering services stocks listed on the ASX or around the world." [9] The fund invests in "suppliers to the industry. The odds aggregators, fixed odds providers and things like that." [10] It targets businesses that provide a critical service with a defensible operational moat, which are well-positioned to benefit from high growth within a specific area of gaming and wagering. [11]

Waterhouse VC has a particular focus on US companies, with "US states (are) quickly opening up and allowing online betting for the first time after decades of it being banned outside casinos, resulting in a stampede into the market." [10] The fund has returned 1802% since its August 2019 inception and 489% over the last 12 months. [12] The fund is available to wholesale investors only and is diversified across both geography and market capitalisation.

Family

The first bookmaker in the family was Charles Waterhouse, who attained his licence in 1898. [3] Waterhouse's maternal grandfather, T.J Smith was an Australian racehorse trainer. His mother, Gai Waterhouse (maiden name Gabriel Marie Smith) is a leading Australian horse trainer, businesswoman, and a former actress. Gai Waterhouse served an apprenticeship under her father for fifteen years before receiving her own trainer's licence.

Waterhouse's father, Robbie Waterhouse, and grandfather William "Bill" Waterhouse are also bookmakers. They have attracted controversy in the past including the loss of their bookmaker's licences for eighteen years (originally life bans) due to their involvement in the Fine Cotton substitution scandal in 1984. [13]

Tom Waterhouse married wife Hoda Vakili in 2011, in the Italian town of Taormina. The couple met at Sydney University, where Vakili was studying her Master's in Architecture. Close friends for years, Vakili even worked at the track for Waterhouse for three years taking bets during her degree. [14]

Media

Waterhouse is a regular contributor to many sports-related television and radio programs, as well as various newspapers and magazines.

He is the co-host of Sportsline on Sky Business, and the racing-focused Two Cups and a Plate on TVN. He pays to appear on the Nine Network's Wide World of Sports and is a regular during Nine's coverage of the Wallabies, and featured during the Rugby World Cup 2011. Waterhouse is a regular guest on 2GB with Alan Jones on Friday mornings during Autumn and Spring to discuss racing and sports. He regularly featured during the Channel Seven's coverage of Wimbledon 2012, and Ascot on TVN. [15]

Waterhouse was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in 2006. He was the second contestant voted off. [16]

More Joyous inquiry

At the 2013 Sydney Cup day on 27 April at Randwick Racecourse, John Singleton fired Gai Waterhouse (Tom's mother) as the trainer of his horses amid allegations that Tom Waterhouse gave acquaintances inside information that Singleton's horse More Joyous was unfit to win the All Aged Stakes. Tom Waterhouse denied any wrongdoing and was cleared in a stewards enquiry conducted by the Racing NSW. [17] Waterhouse was warned not to use his mother's name to promote his bookmaking business. [18]

Awards

Waterhouse was included in the SmartCompany's Hot 30 Under 30 class of 2012, group of entrepreneurs aged 30 years and younger. [19] Tomwaterhouse.com was ranked 19th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Australia 2012. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookmaker</span> Organization or person that takes bets on sporting events

A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.

Betfair is a British gambling company founded in 2000. Its product offering also includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are led from its headquarters in London, alongside satellite offices in Ceuta, Dublin, Leeds, and Malta. In February 2016, Betfair merged with Paddy Power to create Flutter Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thoroughbred racing in Australia</span> Horse racing in Australia

Thoroughbred horse racing is a spectator sport in Australia, and gambling on horse races is a very popular pastime with A$14.3 billion wagered in 2009/10 with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). The two forms of Thoroughbred horseracing in Australia are flat racing, and races over fences or hurdles in Victoria and South Australia. Thoroughbred racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules football and rugby league, with almost two million admissions to 360 registered racecourses throughout Australia in 2009/10. Horseracing commenced soon after European settlement, and is now well-appointed with automatic totalizators, starting gates and photo finish cameras on nearly all Australian racecourses.

The Australian and New Zealand punting glossary explains some of the terms, jargon and slang which are commonly used and heard on Australian and New Zealand racecourses, in TABs, on radio, and in the horse racing media. Some terms are peculiar to Australia, such as references to bookmakers, but most are used in both countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hill (bookmaker)</span> Bookmakers in the United Kingdom

William Hill is a British gambling company founded in 1934. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are led from its headquarters in London, with a satellite office in Malta. The company was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in April 2021. In July 2022, William Hill was subsequently bought by 888 Holdings for £2.2 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy J. Smith</span> Australian horse trainer (1916–1998)

Thomas John Smith was a leading trainer of thoroughbred racehorses based in Sydney, New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gai Waterhouse</span> Australian horse trainer

Gabriel Marie "Gai" Waterhouse is an Australian horse trainer and businesswoman. The daughter of Tommy J. Smith, a leading trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses, Waterhouse was born and raised in Sydney. After graduating from the University of New South Wales, she worked as an actor for a time, appearing in both Australian and English television series. Having worked under her father for a period of 15 years, Waterhouse was granted an Australian Jockey Club (AJC) licence in 1992, and trained her first Group One (G1) winner later that year.

Tatts Group was an Australian gambling company. In 2017, the company combined with Tabcorp Holdings Limited under the Tabcorp brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Totalisator Agency Board</span> Gambling agencies in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

The Totalisator Agency Board, universally shortened to TAB or T.A.B., is the name given to monopoly totalisator organisations in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They operate betting shops and online betting. They were originally government owned, but in Australia most have been privatised. In Victoria, for instance, the Victorian Totalisator Agency Board began operating in March 1961 as a state enterprise, and was privatised in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betfred</span> UK bookmaker

Betfred Group Holdings Limited is a bookmaker based in the United Kingdom, founded by Fred Done. It was first established as a single betting shop in Ordsall, Salford, in 1967. Its turnover in 2004 was reported to be more than £3.5 billion, having risen from £550 million in 2003 and has continued to grow to over £10 billion in 2018-2019. Following a drop in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the Covid pandemic, published turnover for the year to September 2022 was £8.8 billion.

William Stanley Waterhouse was an Australian bookmaker, businessman and barrister. Waterhouse was also Tonga's honorary Consul-General in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Chandler</span> British businessman (born 1951)

Victor William Chandler is a British businessman, bookmaker, and the former chairman of Victor Chandler International.

Zeljko Ranogajec is a businessman and professional gambler from Australia. The London-based Ranogajec is known for horse betting, blackjack and other forms of advantage gambling.

Betstar established in 2007, is an Australian Corporate Bookmaking firm that are based and established within Melbourne and Darwin. BetStar were acquired by British bookmakers Ladbrokes Coral in 2014. In 2018, Ladbrokes Coral were acquired by gaming group Entain.

Alan Eskander is an Australian entrepreneur and licensed bookmaker who together with his father, Michael Eskander, founded the Australian bookmaking company Betstar in 2007. Eskander lives in Melbourne, though travels to the Northern Territory for business.

Robert Waterhouse is an Australian racing identity, businessman, form specialist, punter and bookmaker. Waterhouse is the son of Bill Waterhouse, he is married to thoroughbred horse trainer Gai Waterhouse, and is the father of bookmaker Tom Waterhouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Melbourne Cup</span> Horse race

The 2013 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 153rd running of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. The race, held on 5 November 2013, at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria, was won by Fiorente. The horse, owned by Andrew Roberts and Barry Pang, was bred in Ireland, trained in Australia by Gai Waterhouse, and ridden by jockey Damien Oliver. It was Oliver's third victory in the event, after previous wins in 1995 and 2002, and his first start after a ten-month ban for a betting offence. Waterhouse, the daughter of Tommy J. Smith, who trained winners in 1955 and 1981, became the first Australian woman to train a winner.

Mark Read is an Australian businessman and former bookmaker, founder of International All Sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betting on horse racing</span>

Betting on horse racing or horse betting commonly occurs at many horse races. Modern horse betting started in Great Britain in the early 1600s during the reign of King James I. Gamblers can stake money on the final placement of the horses taking part in a race. Gambling on horses is, however, prohibited at some racetracks. For example, because of a law passed in 1951, betting is illegal in Springdale Race Course, home of the nationally renowned Toronto-Dominion Bank Carolina Cup and Colonial Cup Steeplechase in Camden, South Carolina.

Solomon Green, invariably referred to as "Sol Green", was a Melbourne bookmaker and racehorse owner and breeder. He styled himself "Leviathan of the Ring" but was also referred to as "Foots" on account of the size of his "pedal extremities".

References

  1. 1 2 Elliott, Tim (26 May 2012). "A serious man". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Brand Waterhouse taps into Family Bloodline" www.smh.com.au
  3. 1 2 3 Tim Elliott. "Tom Waterhouse: Too Rich, Too Young, Too Lucky". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "About Tom Waterhouse | No Longer A Bookie | tomwaterhouse.com". 18 July 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. ↑ Webster, Andrew (10 June 2011). "Behind the scenes with Tom Waterhouse and a bookmaking dynasty". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  6. 1 2 Kwek, Glenda (8 August 2013). "Tom Waterhouse sells to William Hill". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Waterhouse on a winner with tips" John Stensholt, The Australian, 31 August - 1 September 2019.
  8. ↑ The Weekend Australian Business Review, 5–6 September 2020. https://www.theaustralian.com.au
  9. ↑ The Weekend Australian Business Review, 5–6 September 2020. "Tom's next big bet: stock picking"
  10. 1 2 The Australian, 6 September 2021. (https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/tom-waterhouse-hits-the-jackpot-with-punt-on-gambling-shares/news-story/6b06fce282a311b462195786a8b165c6 "Tom Waterhouse hits the jackpot with punt on gambling shares")
  11. ↑ SBC News, 20 September 2021. (https://sbcamericas.com/2021/09/20/tom-waterhouse-investment-fund-portfolio-to-play-significant-role-in-the-us-ecosystem/ "Tom Waterhouse: Investment fund portfolio to play significant role in the US ecosystem")
  12. ↑ The Australian, 6 September 2021.(https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/tom-waterhouse-hits-the-jackpot-with-punt-on-gambling-shares/news-story/6b06fce282a311b462195786a8b165c6 "Tom Waterhouse hits the jackpot with punt on gambling shares")
  13. ↑ Young, Craig (16 April 2002). "Waterhouse faces new ban". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  14. ↑ Rowlands, Letitia (2 July 2011). "Wedded bliss in Italian paradise for Tom Waterhouse and Hoda Vakili". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  15. ↑ "Tom Everywhere.com". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "Tom Waterhouse voted off". The Age. Melbourne. 11 October 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  17. ↑ "Nobody escaped unscathed from the More Joyous inquiry". The Daily Telegraph. 14 May 2013.
  18. ↑ Davies, Lisa (13 May 2013). "Racing tells Tom: grow up". Fairfax.com.au. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  19. ↑ "2012's Hot 30 Under 30". 16 April 2012.
  20. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.