Crown Resorts in talks on CrownBet stake
JAMES Packer’s casino group, Crown Resorts, is in talks about selling its majority shareholding in online betting company CrownBet.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
JAMES Packer’s casino group, Crown Resorts, is in talks about selling its majority shareholding in online betting company CrownBet.
The development could signal a further flight back to the group’s core business, its Australian casino and hotel operations, after it ended its international expansion strategy this year and sold out of its controversial Macau joint venture.
Crown was forced to issue a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange that confirmed speculation it was considering selling its 62 per cent stake in CrownBet.
“Crown Resorts notes media speculation today in relation to consolidation in the online wagering industry, including in relation to CrownBet, which is 62 per cent owned by Crown,” the Melbourne-based casino group said.
“Crown confirms that is in discussions concerning its interest in CrownBet. There is no certainty as to whether any transaction will eventuate.”
Speculation was rife that Crown was in talks to sell its CrownBet shareholding to rival online betting company William Hill.
Based in the United Kingdom, William Hill has been on a buying spree in Australia in recent years, snapping up the Tom Waterhouse agency, Sportingbet and Centrebet.
A merged CrownBet and William Hill would account for about 20 per cent of Australia’s online betting market.
CrownBet was one of the main objectors to the merger of betting companies Tabcorp and Tatts, which was approved last week by the Australian Competition Tribunal.
Objectors, including CrownBet, have three weeks left to lodge an appeal against that decision.
CrownBet is reported to have chalked up gross income of $1.5 billion in the year to June but still suffered a net loss of about $14 million.
In its latest full-year accounts, Crown Resorts reported a $7.5 million net loss for its wagering and online division, which included its CrownBet shareholding.
That compared with a $21 million loss for the division the previous year.
Mr Packer is Crown Resorts’ cornerstone investor.
Shares in Crown Resorts fell 0.6 per cent, or 8c, closing at $12.43.
How the NBN has delivered just in time
The NBN has delivered, and it has done so in what can only be described as the ultimate — the hit-the-ground running immediate — stress test, rites Terry McCrann.
Sydney airport the wrong place at the wrong time
Sydney Airport has some of the sweetest acreage in Australia but when passengers numbers have dwindled from 9 million in the March quarter to 400,000 in the June quarter, that doesn’t count for much, writes Terry McCrann.