Matt Tripp’s Betr revs-up gaming with rival $360m Pointsbet offer

The digital gaming player is on the cusp of breaking into the top tier of Australia’s sports betting market as it enters the Pointsbet bidding war.

Betr chairman Matt Tripp has an ambition to consolidate the market. Picture: Aaron Francis

The Matt Tripp-backed gaming operator Betr has made its biggest play yet, through a confidential takeover $360m-plus approach to listed rival PointsBet as part of a push to keep the online gaming market in Australian hands.

The move is aimed at trumping a newly-hatched deal where the under-pressure PointsBet has agreed to sell itself out to Japan-based rival Mixi for $350m. Pointsbet has accepted a cash offer of $1.06 a share from Mixi, which is attempting to get a foothold in Australia through its BetM app.

But it is understood Betr made the approach to the board of Pointsbet in recent days offering either $1.14 a share cash or a share based offer that combined with savings would be valued at $1.55 a share. Pointsbet shareholders would be given the choice to take their entire offer in cash.

The Pointsbet board is understood to have refused to engage with its Australian rival, prompting it to fast track the Mixi offer.

PointsBet on Wednesday entered into a scheme of arrangement with Mixi and has said it is prepared to back the deal subject to a review by an independent expert and no superior offer emerging.

Pointsbet chief Sam Swanell said Mixi offer “represents a compelling offer” for PointsBet shareholders to consider.

“The price appropriately reflects the value of PointsBet’s world-class technology assets,” he said. He did not comment on the Betr approach.

Tripp, a pioneer in Australian sports betting has been steadily building up his new venture Betr, with the aim of securing more than 10 per cent share of the nation’s online gaming market.

But it comes as the broader gaming market is feeling the squeeze, with households cutting back on discretionary spending on cost of living pressures. At the same time, states have been looking to clamp down on gaming with point of sale based taxes. Pointsbet shares are down more than 16 per cent this year.

The combination with PointsBet could see Betr emerge as the fourth-largest digital wagering operator in Australia with more than $1.5bn in annual turnover. Along with Tabcorp, it would become one of two Australian-owned operators with scale across sports and racing betting.

Betr is thought to have secured support from as much as 20 per cent of Pointsbet’s shareholder base for the combination,

In recent months, Tripp has finalised the buyout of Queensland-based bookmaker Topsport. Betr tapped shareholders to fund the deal through a $15m capital raising that was five times oversubscribed. That has given Betr’s chief executive, Andrew Menz the confidence to continue on a growth strategy that outlined last year.

Tripp, the chair of Betr, is the former boss of BetEasy, a previous partner in CrownBet with casino operator Crown Resorts. Before then, he built up the digital wagering business Sportsbet from scratch before selling it for nearly $400m.

Betr emerged on the ASX more than a year ago through the combination with BlueBet.

Betr has been eyeing the combination of the two would deliver as much as $40m in annual savings by merging back office and streamline technology. Betr is already pushing annualised turnover of $1.2bn. Pointsbet is expected to deliver sales of more than $200m this year, bolstered a push into digital sports gaming.

Pointsbet is scheduled to deliver its earnings update later Wednesday. Tripp’s Betr is set to present its numbers on Thursday.

Originally published as Matt Tripp’s Betr revs-up gaming with rival $360m Pointsbet offer