Matt Tripp's BetEasy to become CrownBet - 15th March 2015

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James Packer's Crown Resorts will this week announce its corporate bookmaker joint venture BetEasy has changed its name to Crown Bet.

The move will come after The Australian Financial Review revealed in December Crown had trademarked the Crown Bet brand with the government trademark office IP Australia. A notification of the name changed was lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last week.

It will also see the Crown brand used for the first time in the $13 billion online sports and horse racing wagering sector, and comes after Crown entered into the joint venture with BetEasy chief executive Matt Tripp last December.

That deal saw a new operating company for BetEasy created, 67 per cent owned by Crown and 33 per cent held by BetEasy, which also took control of Betfair's fixed-odds business.

Crown bought the 50 per cent of Betfair Australasia it did not own for $10 million last August, and has maintained Betfair's betting exchange as a separate entity. BetEasy had begun marketing to the 2 million people in the Crown Signature Club database.

Mr Tripp, a former member of the BRW Young Rich List and founder of Sportsbet, established BetEasy 12 months ago after paying $10 million for the assets of the former Betezy business.

He then embarked on an aggressive customer acquisition and branding strategy, including agreeing to pay almost $50 million for the next five years to be the AFL's official wagering partner.

(The Australian Financial Review)