Chief - I don't live in NSW so can't comment on NSWTAB's branch service but I opened an account with them last year and the forms were the same as the ones for the other TAB's - the worst one was the Cash Transaction Reporting stuff but that is a government form - not the TABs fault! Also there was no fee involved - maybe you are thinking of the credit card deposit fee? Customer service over the phone/internet has been OK - last statement request was sent to me in about 5 minutes and they always process withdrawals same day. Biggest gripe is their Internet site - they seem to have problems with the updating some days and the expert betting mode is nowhere near as good as Ozbets (WA TAB).

EI - hope we never get a National pool! I get better value with the three pools by simply betting with the one that is showing best div at start time. Also if one TAB was successful in gaining control of the other two then you can be sure that the TAB take will be slowly increased over time until they are grabbing 20% of the win/place pool.