News secretly sold out of Betr after four months, despite $70m investment
News Corp quietly sold its shares in Betr, the wagering start-up run by wealthy bookmaker Matthew Tripp, just four months after it launched despite injecting more than $70 million into the company.
Betr chairman Matthew Tripp told The Australian Financial Review on Thursday he was grateful for News Corp’s “initial and ongoing support”, but said the publishing and broadcast giant was no longer an investor.
The relationship ended in February, sources close to Betr said, but filings with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have not been updated. A News Corp spokesman declined to comment.
BetR chairman Matthew Tripp is optimistic about the future of the business. Oscar Colman
Mr Tripp, in a statement, confirmed Betr had paid more than $40 million in winning bets to customers who backed the Penrith Panthers to win their third consecutive NRL premiership.
“While they’re no longer on our register, we’re appreciative of News’ initial and ongoing support of Betr, and they remain an important partner of ours going forward,” Mr Tripp said. “We’re now in a position where we are focussed on growth and getting to scale – with our eyes fixed firmly on M&A opportunities in a market that is becoming more challenging.”
Betr launched last October after more than four years of on-and-off discussions between Mr Tripp and News Corp Australia. It was unrelated to a decision by News Corp chairman and Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch, to explore the betting market in the United States.
But multiple media and wagering sources, who required anonymity to speak freely, said the relationship between the two parties had soured quickly.
Gambling insiders took comments by News Corp’s chief financial officer Susan Panuccio in
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