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.
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The Matt Tripp-backed gaming operator Betr has made its biggest play yet, through a confidential $360m-plus takeover approach to listed rival PointsBet as part of a bid to keep the online gaming rival in Australian hands.
The move is aimed at trumping a freshly-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, as the E-sports betting major attempts 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 citing concerns about funding for the deal. There was also the uncertainty of shareholders taking shares in the combined entity. This prompted it to fast-track the Mixi offer, with on-again, off-again talks for the past six months.
PointsBet on Wednesday entered into a scheme of arrangement with Mixi and has said it is prepared to back the deal with the Japanese major subject to a review by an independent expert and no superior offer emerging.
Pointsbet chief Sam Swanell said the 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 declined to 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. He has eyed a tie-up with Pointsbet before including making a formal approach three years ago.
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 by a push into digital sports gaming.
The takeover battle 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. On Wednesday Pointsbet posted an normalised earnings loss of $3.3m for the December half. This had narrowed from more than $13m the same time a year earlier.
Before the Maxi bid, Pointsbet shares are down more than 16 per cent this year where Betr was up nearly 20 per cent.
PointsBet represents the last mid-sized consolidation play that is within reach of Betr.
The combination with PointsBet would 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. However one of Pointsbet’s key backers, the Stake billionaire Ed Craven is eyeing an exit through the Mixi offer.
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, a name its still trades under as a listed entity.
Originally published as Matt Tripp’s Betr revs up gaming with rival $360m Pointsbet offer
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