CrownBet and William Hill Australia Set to Combine into BetEasy

Australian sports betting operator CrownBet is set to rebrand as BetEasy following the recent acquisition of William Hill Australia’s assets, the company’s CEO Matt Tripp said yesterday in a meeting with local information outlet Fairfax Media. The rebranded company will relaunch in mid-August.

William Hill declared early this year that it had been reviewing its underperforming Australian company and its sale was among the possibilities under consideration. After a fierce bidding procedure, CrownBet was declared as the buyer of the fighting betting operation in February. At roughly precisely the exact same time, it had been declared that Canadian gaming giant The Stars Group would obtain an 80% equity in CrownBet from Australian casino operator Crown Resorts.

Reports surfaced this spring following the above acquisition bargains that CrownBet was planning to rebrand as part of its combination with William Hill Australia. It also became known that Mr. Tripp and his group had picked the Sportingbet title , the title of a locally popular betting operator once run by his dad, Alan.

Sportingbet was among three brands acquired by William Hill as it entered the Australian gaming market a few decades back, together with another two being Tom Waterhouse and Centrebet. The British bookmaker later on combined the three companies into William Hill Australia.

CrownBet’s original plan fell through after Paddy Power Betfair’s Australian company, Sportsbet, contested the move in Federal Court, arguing the Sportingbet brand sounded too similar to its own, which may confuse customers the two individual operations are actually one and the exact same or are somehow connected.

BetEasy Rebrand

Mr. Tripp declared Tuesday that they have chosen a new name for the combined enterprise.

Mr. Tripp pointed out he had been a little bit personally disappointed because he “had [his] heart on Sportingbet,” however he didn’t take personal offense at Sportsbet’s lawful actions.

The combination of CrownBet and William Hill’s Australian operations will make the country ’s third largest sports betting operator, together with Tabcorp and Sportsbet being the largest two. It’s also important to note that BetEasy has been born at a time when licensed Australian operators are facing tighter marketing restrictions, new taxes, and heavy competition.

Mr. Tripp told Fairfax Media that while they supported the introduction of measures aimed at protecting gaming customers more efficiently, they couldn’t just “sugarcoat” the reality of operators being confronted with greater challenges than ever before.

A number of Australian states and territories have introduced or are set to present point of consumption taxes, thus charging operators between 8% and 15% on their local revenues. Local lawmakers have cited the same reasons for executing the new taxation regimes, arguing that governments ought to have the ability to gain from the country ’s growing sports betting industry.