CrownBet and William Hill Australia merge to form BetEasy
Revival of BetEasy brand comes after CrownBet recently lost naming rights battle to rebrand as Sportingbet
The Stars Group is set to merge its two Australia-facing sports betting assets, CrownBet and William Hill, in a bid to revive the BetEasy brand first launched by CrownBet CEO Matt Tripp in 2014.
CrownBet and William Hill customers were informed their accounts would be transferred to the BetEasy brand in the coming weeks, with CrownBet’s right to use the Crown brand expiring next year following its takeover by The Stars Group in February.
“As a BetEasy customer, you’ll enjoy better offers, more markets, exciting rewards and every Australian thoroughbred, harness and greyhound race streamed live in the one place,” the new BetEasy website says.
BetEasy previously existed in the Australia market after CrownBet chief exec Matt Tripp acquired Betezy in 2014 and later relaunched the brand under the BetEasy moniker.
The Stars-owned brand, which is licensed by Australia’s Northern Territory, claims it will be the only corporate bookmaker in Australia that will provide its customers access to the Sky Racing channels.
News of the merger comes after CrownBet lost a naming rights battle with Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) earlier this month following attempts by CrownBet to change its name to Sportingbet.
At the time of the application, CrownBet CEO Matthew Tripp said that the decision to rebrand the business into SportingBet was to commemorate his father, Alan who had previously owned Sportingbet before selling it to William Hill in 2014.
However, an Australian Federal Court judge But the court agreed with PPB’s Sportsbet brand that the Sportingbet name was too similar to Sportsbet and as a result was likely to “mislead or deceive” customers.
A spokesperson for CrownBet at the time said that the company was “disappointed and will examine the decision closely and consider all options available to us.”