Victorian spring racing target for digital betting pioneer Matthew Tripp’s BetR as it snaps up TexBet
Matthew Tripp’s newest racing and sports betting venture will likely launch in time for the biggest races in the Spring Racing Carnival.
BetR, the online wagering brand set to be launched by renowned digital betting pioneer Matthew Tripp, has purchased corporate bookmaker TexBet.
The deal is the first for BetR and is said to be worth about $10m, sources familiar with the terms of the transaction told The Australian.
TexBet is an online bookmaker based in Tamworth, NSW, formed by Terry (Tex) O’Shea and his son, Wade.
As previously revealed by the Wall Street Journal, BetR is set to be launched in a partnership with News Corporation Australia, the publisher of The Australian, and Las Vegas-based Tekkorp Capital, and is slated to be operating in time for the major events in the upcoming Victorian Spring Racing Carnival.
The Spring Carnival starts in late August and peaks with the Melbourne Cup in early November.
Tekkorp Capital is headed by Matt Davey, an Australian-born betting entrepreneur and the former chief executive and major shareholder of NYX Gaming Group. NYX, a digital gaming and sports platform, was sold to Scientific Games for $US630 million in 2018.
Mr Davey has since established Tekkorp Capital and raised $US250 million for a gambling-focused Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), Tekkorp Digital. Tekkorp is a major shareholder of the ASX-listed BetMakers Technology Group.
BetMakers’ white-label betting technology is used by TexBet.
Mr Tripp is a former executive of Australian betting companies Sportsbet, CrownBet and BetEasy, and is also a shareholder in BetMakers which announced in April it would be the technology services provider for what will be known as BetR.
The Tekkorp SPAC had been named in media reports as being in talks with Mexican company Caliente to list its sports betting firm Caliplay through a $US2.5bn merger.
British firm Playtech controls almost half of Caliente via a joint venture and said this week it had stopped pursuing talks with an unnamed SPAC regarding a transition due to weakening market conditions in the US.
More Coverage
Join the conversation
Why Regal’s Phil King is taking on the widowmaker trade
Is the hedge fund boss being brave or foolhardy by going where many have gone before and fortunes have been lost.
Read more
Prospero clients to get their cash back
Clients of shuttered foreign exchange trader Prospero Markets, whose managers were involved in a huge money laundering sting last year, look likely to get their money back.
Read more