On Pickle Bet, users can bet money on whether some guy named Adriano ($1.88) would beat Misterx ($2.27) playing FIFA in the eAdriatic League. The draw is paying $6.80 … which sounds like value?
Or if shoot-em-up strategy game Starcraft 2 is more your vibe, Pickle Bet customers can place bets on a match-up between HerO ($1.28) and HeRoMaRinE ($3.30) at Gamers8, currently being hosted in Riyadh. If you can’t decide, make it a multi.
It’s unclear how liquid these markets are. Let’s assume they’re not. Bets of any size would shift odds, out of view from authorities or regulators. With no oversight, gamblers must surely have an incentive to contact gamers, who are mostly playing for recreation. Criminals don’t need ATP tour events, or India’s Twenty20. They can ask Misterx to concede a few goals for $10,000 in the eAdriatic League.
Larcombe, among other legitimate investors, likes to claim esports is the future of sports. Pickle Bet is building the future of match fixing!
Who in their right mind would invest in the world’s worst gambling venture?
A look at the share register of Pickle Bet’s parent company Puntaa Holdings shows News Corp’s national executive editor Peter Blunden has made a personal investment. Blunden is News Corp’s top faceless man, who by his own count has worked for Rupert for 44 years.
When News Corp teamed up with wagering huckster Matt Tripp last year to launch Betr, Lachlan Murdoch and News Corp Australia chief Michael Miller put Blunden and consumer MD Mark Reinke on the board.
Along with the Murdoch’s US foray into wagering Fox Bet, the Australian venture has busted. Earlier in the year, News Corp’s CFO Susan Panuccio sounded almost apologetic on an earnings call, disclosing the company sank $US33 million into Betr. Blunden and Reinke have since left the board, and Tripp has so far been unsuccessful in getting someone to buy his customer list.
Another investor on the Puntaa register is Fiona Mellor, chief commercial officer at Harness Racing Victoria. According to her LinkedIn, Mellor was also an executive at News Corp. Did Pickle Bet run their capital raise out of the Herald & Weekly Times building?
Pickle Bet’s chief financial officer Andrew Prebble came to the company after doing five years at failed ASX-listed Blue Sky Alternative Investments. Prebble was Blue Sky’s COO of real estate through to 2018. If Blue Sky were still around today, you could imagine its VC investment team frothing over the total addressable market for esports.
It’s unclear if anyone has done one iota of due diligence here. New users to Pickle Bet don’t need to verify their age or identity. They don’t even need to verify their email. They just sign up, deposit some money and get betting on gamer events in South Korea and the Petro States.
Imagine the pitch deck: The online bookie for 16-year-olds betting on 16-year-olds, no questions asked.
If you’re wondering how this is even legal, Pickle Bet is a company registered in Darwin, where all major online bookies have set up shop to benefit from favourable tax arrangements. They also operate under the supervision of the Northern Territory Racing Commission, a toothless regulator that simps for betting companies.
In a 2021 interview, Larcombe described the opportunity of Pickle Bet. “It used to be men over 50 betting on horses and NRL games, but esports attracts this new wave of younger men,” he said. You’re right Clayton, but at what cost?