The US$8.8 billion marriage of Australian betting firms Tabcorp holdings and Tatts Group is back on the table – albeit it will be delayed into next year.

The Herald Sun reported that the Australian Competition Tribunal (ACT) has again flashed the green light for the multi-billion dollar merger of rivals Tabcorp and Tatts despite the objections of another rival betting company CrownBet and competition watchdog Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

It would be recalled that the Tabcorp-Tatts merger suffered a major setback after an Australian Federal Court upheld a petition of ACCC to block the union and ordered that the proposal be sent back to ACT.

Two months after the deal was sent to the competition tribunal, ACT gave Tabcorp and Tatts Group merger a stamp of approval saying that the union will likely to result in substantial public detriments.