The well know Australian sports betting operator CrownBet is all set to form Beteasy following the recent acquisition of William Hill Australia’s assets. This was announced recently by the company’s CEO Matt Tripp in an interview with local news outlet Fairfax Media. The rebranded business will relaunch in mid-August.

BetEasy will combine the hundreds of thousands of customers of CrownBet and William Hill Australia, and is widely expected to become the third-largest online bookmaker in the country behind Sportsbet and Tabcorp.

According to casino news in early 2018 William Hill reviewed its underperformance Australian business and its sale was  among the possibilities under consideration. Then after a fierce bidding process, CrownBet was announced as the buyer of the struggling betting operation in February. At about the same time, it was announced that Canadian gambling giant The Stars Group would acquire an 80% equity in CrownBet from Australian casino operator Crown Resorts.

Matt Tripp’s CrownBet will relaunch as BetEasy in mid-August.
Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

News sources announced that following the above acquisition deals CrownBet was planning to rebrand as part of its combination with William Hill Australia. It also became known that Mr. Tripp and his team had chosen the Sportingbet name, the name of a locally popular betting operator once run by his father, Alan.

Sportingbet was one of three brands acquired by William Hill when it entered the Australian gambling market a few years ago, with the other two being Tom Waterhouse and Centrebet. The British bookmaker later on combined the three businesses into William Hill Australia.

CrownBet’s original rebrand plan fell through after Paddy Power Betfair’s Australian business, Sportsbet, challenged the move in Federal Court, arguing that the Sportingbet brand sounded too similar to its own, which might confuse customers the two separate operations are actually one and the same or are somehow related. The court issued an order temporarily blocking the planned rebrand.

Forming of Beteasy

According to Mr. Tripp this new name BetEasy would resonate with their customers, both the CrownBet and the William Hill Australia ones.

Mr. Tripp pointed out that he was a little bit personally disappointed because he “had [his] heart on Sportingbet,” but he did not take personal offense at Sportsbet’s legal action.

It is also important to note that BetEasy is being born at a time when licensed Australian operators are facing tighter advertising restrictions, new taxes, and heavy competition.

Mr. Tripp told Fairfax Media that while they supported the introduction of measures aimed at protecting gambling customers more effectively, they could not just “sugarcoat” the reality of operators being faced with greater challenges than ever before.

A number of Australian states and territories have already introduced or are set to introduce point of consumption taxes, thus charging operators between 8% and 15% on their local revenues. Local lawmakers have cited the same reasons for implementing the new taxation regimes, arguing that governments should be able to benefit from the nation’s growing sports betting industry.

At Beteasy you will enjoy more betting options exciting rewards and every Australian thoroughbred, harness and greyhound race. All the gamers who have account with Crownbet or William Hill be merged into Beteasy account.

BetEasy is licensed in Australia’s Northern Territory and majority owned by The Stars Group, one of the largest and most professional online gaming companies in the world. BetEasy is the only corporate bookmaker that provides access to the Sky Racing channels for its customers. Now they are an amalgamation of CrownBet and William Hill Australia.