ABOUT TOM
I’m from a long line of bookmakers going back four generations. My grandfather Bill Waterhouse was the biggest bookie in the world in the 1960s and 70s. My dad Rob is a bookmaker and part-owner of one of the world’s largest betting syndicates.
On my mum’s side, my grandfather Tommy J. Smith is the most successful Australian horse trainer of all time. You might have heard of some of the horses he trained, like Tulloch, Gunsynd, Kingston Town, Redcraze and Red Anchor. Gai Waterhouse has won over 130 Group 1 races, is a Melbourne Cup winner and has trained for the Queen of England.
I got my own bookmakers license in 2003 and at the age of 20, rearranged my university timetable so I could field at as many tracks each week as humanly possible.
By 2008 I’d worked up to becoming Australia’s largest and most profitable on-course bookmaker.
In 2010, I launched online wagering company TomWaterhouse.com with just three people in a dingy office at Moonee Valley Racecourse.
By the time we sold to William Hill in 2013, we had 100 people and 250,000 clients. In that year I was also the second most Googled name in Australia (behind Miranda Kerr, in case you were wondering).
In July 2014 I took over the CEO role at William Hill Australia operating the William Hill, TomWaterhouse.com, Centrebet and Sportingbet brands with around 500 people and one million clients.
In May 2018, William Hill sold their Australian business and I got the TomWaterhouse.com brand back, and we launched the tipping service straight away.
So far, it’s been a huge success for members. You can read the inaugural Gold Package annual letter.
