BetMakers scraps extra bonus for gambling mogul Matt Tripp
$6,000 Welcome Bonus
The Tripp payment
The circumstances around a previous $15 million compensation package to Mr Tripp that became known as the “Tripp payment” faced a probe by ASX compliance officers last year.
BetMakers granted Mr Tripp the bonus after Betr was signed on to build the back-end for the News Corp-backed online gaming start-up. At the time, BetMakers said the entrepreneur would work “exclusively advising on B2B opportunities” for the firm.
But the ASX began looking into the arrangement and whether it was a material payment that should have been disclosed and approved by BetMakers’ shareholders.
According to a letter to the company, ASX compliance offers had “intelligence” which claimed that during a November AGM BetMakers CEO Todd Buckingham had said the $15 million payment was “more than a strategic deal and because Matt (Tripp) has helped me personally”.
The company said the ASX had taken his comment out of context and that Mr Buckingham was referring to the “support, advice and guidance Matt Tripp had offered” him and the firm.
Buckingham out, Davey in
The cancellation of the extra bonus comes during the same week as Mr Buckingham exited as CEO to become chief growth officer, while also stepping down from the company’s board. The company’s chief operating officer Jake Henson became the new CEO.
In the reshuffle, Las Vegas-based Matt Davey, a fellow gaming entrepreneur and close associate of Mr Tripp, was announced as BetMakers’ new board president and executive chairman. Mr Davey’s Tekkorp owns a more than 10 per cent stake in BetMakers, and was one of the original backers of Mr Tripp’s Betr.
BetMakers also released financial results which showed the company lost $6 million in the December quarter. The company’s filings claimed Betr – which ran aggressive promotional campaigns during the Spring Carnival – had 300,000 “sign-ups” since the start-up’s launch.
