Court Sides with Sportsbet to Block CrownBet’s Planned Rebrand

Australian bookmaker Sportsbet has triumphed in its effort to block rival CrownBet’s intended rebrand (at least now), after a Federal Court injunction order was issued on Wednesday compelling the latter operator to nix its plans, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Canadian gambling giant The Stars Group purchased an 80% stake in CrownBet earlier this year. At roughly precisely the exact same time, CrownBet obtained William Hill’s ailing Australian business, beating Sportsbet in a highly competitive bidding procedure. Sportsbet is your Australian business of major gaming and betting operator Paddy Power Betfair and will be the 2nd biggest bookmaker in Australia behind Tabcorp.

William Hill combined a plethora of operators in the Australian market back in 2013 when it purchased the neighborhood business of Sportingbet in addition to the Centrebet and Tom Waterhouse manufacturers in pound & a;459.4-million deal. The British bookmaker managed to improve the operation of the 3 brands, which it afterwards brought under the single William Hill Australia brand, and declared early in 2018 it had been reviewing their sale.

The Australian operations of bet365, Ladrokes, and Paddy Power Betfair in addition to CrownBet were reported to be the four exemptions to the underperforming business. Finally, CrownBet was selected over Sportsbet in the Last bidding round to assume control over William Hill Australia.

Reports surfaced in May the CrownBet was considering the possibility to rebrand as Sportingbet to distance itself from the past majority owner, Australian match operator Crown Resorts, and to celebrate how the Sportingbet brand was back in the family. Sportingbet was originally owned by CrownBet’s present CEO Matt Tripp and his dad, Alan.

Trademarks War

Last month, CrownBet filed a “Change of business name participation ” type together with Australia’s Securities and Investments Commission to reserve the Sportingbet Pty Ltd name, thus confirming its strategy to rebrand.

Soon after, Sportsbet filed an application with the Federal Court seeking to stop its rival operator from carrying out its strategy. The Australian business of Paddy Power Betfair argued the Sportingbet brand was very similar to the own and could “mislead or deceive” betting customers.

An injunction order issued on Wednesday sided with Sportsbet. According to the latest development, a Sportsbet spokesperson told local media that the decision showed that the courtroom shared their particular concerns which CrownBet’s proposed rebrand could lead to customers being scammed that that the two bookmakers were associated or were the exact same thing .

CrownBet explained they were reviewing the purchase and what options they had. It is thus yet to be seen if the company would contest the ruling court or decide on a different name for the business.

The purchase of CrownBet from The Stars Group, and CrownBet’therefore purchase of William Hill Australia is set to make Australia’s third largest corporate bookmaker, behind Tapcorp and Sportsbet. The Australian betting market has increased 10% over the last year, and it has become a highly competitive space. The newest legal battle between Sportsbet and CrownBet comes as another manifestation of operators’ attempts to maintain a fantastic position in the local sector.