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Thanks to the fact that they already share technology and commingle their pools across international borders, international totes are well placed to exploit opportunities in blockchain technology.

In the event that blockchain technology were to be fully implemented across the global totalisator space, fewer people and technological systems would be required to process, clear, and settle bets. There would be a greater, more comprehensive product offering, greater liquidity and smart contracts could be utilised to provide all of the relevant information for the processing and settlement of bets. Moreover, blockchain's extensive audit and tracing capability would make it easier for international tote companies to comply with anti-money laundering and know your customer regulations. In a nutshell, the existing totalisator system would be completely overhauled, and would, for the first time be able to serve as a serious competitor to the international bookmaking community.

For the world's totes to benefit fully from blockchain technology, such as through the achievement of a positive network effect, there would have to be universal adoption of the technology and also an agreement to adopt a uniform standard across the industry space. All Tote operators would have to agree on how to standardize the entire global Tote system, covering matters such as the basic settlement of bets, how to handle account information, betting records, payouts, commission and other data.

In order to successfully scale blockchain technology, Tote operators would also have to be prepared to make significant capital investment in order to achieve the necessary infrastructure and processing power and in order to guarantee safety, security, and robust performance.

Whilst the widespread adoption of blockchain technology by the international totes, would require some regulatory reform, the regulatory wall faced by them would not be as burdensome as it might be for say, bookmaking companies, such as William Hill and Ladbrokes. Through the process of commingling international tote organisations already engage in crossborder trading activity.

Challenges of technical transition will arise, and international tote bodies will need to devote a significant amount of time to testing blockchain technology. But, again, this process will be eased by the fact that they already share technology.

Blockchain technology presents international tote organisations with a significant window of opportunity and the chance to move from also-ran status to industry leadership.

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