The efficiency program, which will cost up to $2.5 million to execute and reduce employee headcount from 568 to 440, comes two months after high-profile bookmaker Tom Waterhouse reduced his stake in the business.
Mr Waterhouse sold $4.6 million of his shares in BetMakers through his Waterhouse VC fund in March, leaving him with a 4.87 per cent stake in the business. He is the fourth-largest shareholder, behind Tekkorp Holdings, Mr Tripp’s personal investment vehicle, and Paradice Investment Management.
Other investors have soured on BetMakers, one of a cohort of unprofitable stocks which are being punished by rising interest rates. Investors have wiped almost 75 per cent from the company’s valuation in just 12 months, with shares closing at 12¢ on Tuesday. They rallied 20 per cent to 15¢ on Wednesday.
BetMakers executive chairman and wagering entrepreneur, Matt Davey, said the company was focused on profitable growth.
“Importantly, this restructure will allow increased focus on our core platform and products, improving the benefits and value we can deliver to our domestic and international customers,” Mr Davey said.
Mr Davey told The Australian in April that BetMakers needed to find opportunities to roll out fixed-odds betting services for more horse racing jurisdictions around the world.
BetMakers was engaged last April to provide platform services and technology to Betr, a new online gaming company founded by ex-Sportsbet chairman Mr Tripp and backed by Rupert Murdoch’s News.
In February, The Australian Financial Review revealed that BetMakers had cancelled plans to pay Mr Tripp an extra compensation package potentially worth more than $7 million after the market operator probed whether payments were a personal favour from the company’s then-CEO.
At the time, the company said the bonus shares and options had been cancelled because the entrepreneur had not brought a so-called “transformational deal” to BetMakers, which was a condition of the package.
Since its launch last October, punters have frequently complained about the glitches in the technology which underpins Betr. That concern has coincided with an increased wariness in the venture by News, which injected the business with $49 million in six months, according to the group’s December results.
In March, two senior News executives – national executive editor Peter Blunden and consumer managing director Mark Reinke – quit Betr’s board, leaving only Mr Tripp and one other as directors.
Betr told the Financial Review in March it had put itself up for sale, hiring Barrenjoey, following inbound interest.