Gillon McLachlan has revealed the National Tote is set for a soft launch on Friday before its official hard launch this weekend, with the former AFL chief executive outlining his hopes for greater liquidity and more competitive pricing.

McLachlan joined Gareth Hall on SENTrack & RSN's Giddy Up ahead of the National Tote’s launch, which has been a significant project in bringing together the different state-based pools.

“It’s been a journey, there’s been issues along the way but finally on Friday we will have deeper liquidity and national pricing, we are looking forward to it,” McLachlan said.

“More competitive pricing and price stability, we hope it will grow and cause more liquidity.”

McLachlan said punters will be able to access the national pools regardless of where they are betting from, creating a more unified wagering experience across Australia.

“Wherever you are, bet into the quaddie and exotics,” McLachlan said.

“I’m not promising the world here Gareth, but it will look different in terms of the depth.”

The National Tote will also place a particular emphasis on exotic bets at launch, with McLachlan encouraging punters to keep an eye on the trifectas on Saturday.

“I hope you like trifectas on Saturday because that will be the focus for us,” he said.

One of the challenges in establishing a national pool has been bringing together the different takeout rates across the states.

McLachlan said the National Tote has worked to synchronise the various rates, while limiting the amount they can change.

“One of the biggest challenges with this has been synchronising those, there’s ups and downs effectively, no takeout rate will change more than 0.5%,” he said.

“There will be jackpots and seeded pools, we have promotions specifically targeting exotics, look around, we will be targeting all different customers.

“This is obviously peer versus peer betting and we want it to be really competitive, and we’ll work really hard on that.”

With a particular focus on trifectas and exotic betting at launch, the success of the platform will ultimately depend on building liquidity and encouraging punters from across Australia to embrace the new national wagering model.

LISTEN TO THE FULL CHAT HERE: