Business
4 June, 2024
Punter’s gamble
CAIRNS businessman and property developer Darren Halpin is taking on the heavyweights of gambling and created an app that he describes as the most responsible form of betting in Australia.
UPC (Ultimate Punters Challenge) Showdown is horse betting crossed with a tipping competition-style event with 12 selections in 12 races earning punters points on a leaderboard to try to win a large total prize pool. There is just one other similar rival app but with a smaller prize pool.
Mr Halpin, an avid punter and racehorse syndicate owner, launched the app in March and has already paid out nearly $900,000 ($895,179) to customers.
He said the idea came from many years ago when three times a year a Brisbane publican held showdowns using just pens, paper and a black or whiteboard.
“I loved it, it was great fun,’ Mr Halpin said.
“I’ve been punting all my life. I love it. Punters try to beat the bookies, most punters don’t,” he said.
Mr Halpin said UPC Showdown was “entertainment” with people spending $10, $20 or $50 to enter one of four showdowns each week.
He said most punters chased their losses, placing bets after bets that could run into hundreds or thousands of dollars in a weekend, but the showdown was different.
“Players decide how they want to play – some choose to pick their own horses, others opt for a quick pick, and some do a combination of both,” Mr Halpin said.
“They follow the leaderboard for an afternoon of fun, where points are accumulated over 12 races for wins and places,” he said.
“First place is awarded to the player with the most points.
“It’s tipping meets punting in a user-friendly inclusive platform,” he said.
“The app encourages responsible gambling with no ability to chase your losses.”
Mr Halpin said last Saturday a Trinity Park woman entered the Doomben Cup Showdown with a $50 pick your own entry, she accumulated 85.30 points and won first prize of $22,388.
He said winners didn’t get paid out until the following Tuesday to avoid reinvesting the winnings straight away as they rode an adrenalin high.
Showdowns are also played on Sundays, Wednesdays, with a free competition on Thursdays.
Mr Halpin said it was all transparent with the winners and their prizes listed on the app.
He hopes to break even soon and start making reasonable profits by Christmas.
The business is based and licensed in New South Wales with the app run from Sydney with a staff of 12, including eight Excel programmers. Mr Halpin also operates a betting app called UPCoz which he said he was required to have as part of the showdown app.
Showdown has about 4000 participants, with about 1000 taking part most weeks, many from Cairns and most from Queensland and New South Wales.
Mr Halpin said his first target was 5000 people with the hope of topping 30,000. The pool is currently about $54,000. By reaching 10,000 the pool will increase to $330,000 and by 30,000 – $1 million.
“With Showdown people can’t lose their houses. In the worst case a punter can have 50 entries on a Saturday costing $2500,” Mr Halpin said.
He said most punters chose two entries – a quick pick, pick your own or a combination of both.
Mr Halpin said partners of punters loved the app because it meant that they would only spend, say $100, over a weekend.
He said it was “a set and forget” style product and punters couldn’t change their bets once the showdown closed, normally around 1pm on race day.
Mr Halpin said one Cairns businessman recently won $31,355, and he was stoked to have won because it would help his family immensely. One of the first winners was Dayne (surname withheld), a refrigeration mechanic from Jerrabomberra, NSW, who turned a casual $50 bet into $31,355 to be used towards the deposit on his family’s first home.
Dayne and his fiancée Ashleigh are first-time parents to 10-week-old Arlo and had a punt one weekend. “It’s an awesome feeling. This win is all going towards our house deposit,” he said.
