Australia’s two biggest gambling companies is gathering pace, as Tabcorp this week finally pulls the trigger on the transition of Tatts Group’s struggling UBET retail betting shops and online wagering service into the well-known TAB brand.

Nearly a year after Tabcorp and Tatts sealed the mega-merger of their extensive gaming businesses across the nation, the combined entity on Monday formally abandons the UBET brand that has operated in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, where Tatts held exclusive retail betting licences.

Their new name, TAB, is Tabcorp’s wagering brand used in Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

“UBET has been in decline for some time – at least five years,” Mr Rytenskild said. “This is a really important milestone for us, putting our brand into those states.”

Mr Rytenskild said this week’s move from UBET to TAB was the “first customer-facing” initiative to be executed so far in the colossal task of merging the Tabcorp and Tatts businesses, which run lotteries, digital betting services and exclusive retail betting in every state and territory except Western Australia.

Since Tatts Group renamed its TattsBet wagering division as UBET in 2015, the brand has struggled to achieve widespread recognition and is widely considered an inferior wagering service to the TAB.