Background: Football Australia, the governing body of the Matildas and Socceroos, has been in talks with major betting companies like Tabcorp, Sportsbet, and Entain (the owner of Ladbrokes and Neds). The goal is to strike a deal allowing gambling companies to offer betting products in exchange for a share of betting proceeds.

What happened: Negotiations have been dragging on for months as both sides tried to agree on how to split those gambling profits. But now, a dispute has reportedly emerged, prompting bookmakers like Ladbrokes, Sportsbet, and Tabcorp to remove betting options for state-based soccer competitions.

What else: The controversy centers around Football Australia’s proposed new model, which would require gambling companies to hand over 1% of turnover or up to 15% of gross profit (whichever’s higher) for every match or event involving an Australian soccer team. Some betting firms are even threatening to pull A-League gambling products altogether.

What's the key learning?

💡The money that sporting organisations make from betting companies is called product fees. It's a licence fee that allows bookies to offer betting on their sports.

💡These fees are a major revenue stream across Australian sport, with the AFL earning over $40 million a year and the NRL more than $50 million from bookmakers.

💡Under Football Australia’s proposed model, its product fees could double from $9 million to the highest in the country, even though soccer draws fewer viewers and gamblers than the AFL or NRL.