Tripp makes full BetEasy exit

Bookmaker Matthew Tripp will make a $250m exit from BetEasy after clinching a deal to sell his remaining shareholding.

Former BetEasy CEO Matt Tripp with new CEO Andrew Menz. Picture: David Geraghty

Bookmaker Matthew Tripp will make a $250m exit from BetEasy after clinching a deal to sell the remainder of his shareholding in the group to its Toronto-listed majority owner, The Stars Group.

Mr Tripp and his management team will sell their 20 per cent interest in BetEasy for $151m to TSG, which has also agreed to pay another $100m in performance payments due after last year’s purchase of a majority stake in what was then CrownBet from James Packer’s Crown ­Resorts.

The announcement, made early on Wednesday morning Australian time, comes ahead of the mooted $US6bn ($8.8bn) global merger next year between TSG and Flutter Entertainment, the London-listed owner of Bet­Easy’s Australian corporate bookmaker rival Sportsbet.

Mr Tripp will be replaced as chief executive of BetEasy on January 1 by the firm’s present ­director of strategy and regulatory affairs, Andrew Menz, but will stay as a non-executive president of the business.

“I’m pleased to see our long-term succession plan come to fruition and I’ll be assisting Andrew in more of the strategic matters rather than operating. I’ll be ­assisting the new executive with whatever they need,” he said.

“Andrew brings deep commercial and regulatory experience which leaves BetEasy in a strong position to continue delivering profitable growth.

“I know this business, which we founded back in 2013, is in very capable hands with a strong executive team and the backing of TSG.”

Mr Menz will take the helm of a business with 400 staff that took $3.18bn of bets in the nine months to September 31, but one that faces a future combination with Sportsbet.

The merger needs regulatory approval in Australia and abroad, and a shareholder vote, though it is likely both Australian brands will operate until at least after next year’s spring racing carnival.

He said bookmakers were dealing with falling profits because of state-based point-of-consumption taxes and rising race fields fees, which hit hard in the most recent spring carnival.

“The biggest challenge that we’ve got and this industry has got is external pressure, be it regulation or increased taxes and fees. This industry is becoming very marginal and strategies need to change to absorb some of that pressure to make sure the industry is sustainable going forward.”

The deal marks the end of an era for Mr Tripp, 45, a pioneer in Australia’s online betting market and son of famous bookmaker Alan. He bought a fledgling Darwin-based online bookmaker called Sportsbet for $250,000 in 2005 and turned it into a market leader before selling out in two transactions finalised six years later, in a $338m deal with Paddy Power Betfair (now Flutter).

Mr Tripp then sat out a three year non-compete clause before paying less than $10m for the ­assets of troubled BetEzy, later selling a majority stake of it to Crown Resorts and rebadging the business as CrownBet.

TSG then swooped on CrownBet in a $150m purchase early last year and then completed a $406m cash and share deal that saw the Canadian group buy the Australian arm of William Hill and increase its stake in what would later again be called Bet­Easy to 80 per cent.

Mr Tripp is also a part-owner of NRL club Melbourne Storm and has mortgage industry ­investments, but said he would maintain a shareholding in TSG while having a three-year non-compete clause should he ever step away from the president role.

“I still hold a decent position in TSG and am happy to back that company personally,” he said.

“While I’m not an equity holder in BetEasy per se, I’m still a ­believer in and backer of the company and I’ll be active enough supporting these guys.”

Mr Tripp and his team’s performance payment could have reached $232m, subject to meeting Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation targets. TSG is also repaying $56.9m in loans to the group.