Betstar (Eskander's Betstar) established in 2007, is an Australian Corporate Bookmaking firm that are based and established within

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Darwin. BetStar were acquired by British bookmakers Ladbrokes Coral (formerly Ladbrokes) in 2014. In 2018, Ladbrokes Coral (and therefore Betstar) were acquired by gaming group

Entain Entain plc, formerly GVC Holdings, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker, and Spo ...

(formerly GVC Holdings). Betstar employ 40+ staff split between the Melbourne & Darwin offices. Betstar turns over in excess of $275 million per year & offers customers phone or internet betting as well as sporting news, commentary, competitions and promotions.

Founders

Betstar was founded by father and son bookmakers, Michael & Alan Eskander who had both been operating as independent bookmakers before merging the two businesses together. In October 2009 Eskander's Betstar was announced as a Business Review Weekly Fast 100 company, the BRW Fast 100 ranks companies with according to their average annual turnover growth over three years

Michael Eskander

Michael Eskander emigrated to Australia from Egypt in July 1966, working as a bank teller initially and moving onto a number of industries before being exposed to bookmaking. Michael was awarded his licence over 17 years ago. After being granted his licence, Michael worked his way to become one of Australia's most prominent and well respected bookmakers. Michael Eskander was known for being a bookie to a number of Australian identities including

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

, whom once placed A$400,000 bet on

Jezabeel Jezabeel (2 November 1992 – 22 September 2015) was a top New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1998 Melbourne Cup. In April 1995, as a 2 year old, she won the listed 1600m Champagne Stakes at Ellerslie. Later that year she went to F ...

via Eskander in the

1998 Melbourne Cup The 1998 Melbourne Cup was the 138th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over , was held on Tuesday, 3 November 1998 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse. The race was won in 3 mins 1 ...

Alan Eskander

Alan Eskander, son of Michael was educated at

Trinity Grammar School, Kew , motto_translation = Act Courageously , established = 1902 , type = Independent, single-sex, day and boarding school , denomination = Anglican , chairman = Simon Gips ...

and later achieved a bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Economics. Alan received his first bookmaker's licence in 1997 and started fielding at country race tracks, three years later Alan was granted his Metropolitan rails licence. Alan is a registered member of the Victorian Bookmakers Association. Betstar are known for their authoritativeness as a source in many of Melbourne's newspapers about sporting & horse racing betting odds.

References

{{Reflist Online gambling companies of Australia Bookmakers Australian companies established in 2007 Gambling companies established in 2007 Internet properties established in 2007 Companies based in Darwin, Northern Territory