Crown Resorts agrees to the $150m sale of CrownBet

luding in 2017, Crown Resorts announced that it has agreed to the $150m sale of its majority stake in CrownBet that is set to be completed by the end of February this year. The sale follows on from the company’s recent string of sales, allowing it to focus on a number of its core assets such as its construction of the $1.5bn Barangaroo Crown Sydney Hotel Resort, along with other casino properties in Melbourne and Perth. Earlier in the year, Crown sold its interests in joint-venture casinos in Macau and the sale of a vacant lot in Las Vegas where it had originally planned to build a new casino development. The company’s most recent deal saw Crown Resorts sell off its 62% stake in the bookmaking subsidiary to investors including CrownBet Chief Executive, Matthew Tripp. The sale is worth AU$150m, with Crown Resorts looking to eliminate its debt with the hopes of raising as much as $700m. The deal was subject to the buyers arranging satisfactory financing, Crown said in a statement to the ASX. The announcement comes after news broke late last year detailing that Crown had entered into discussions with both William Hill and Paddy Power. The company also decided to drop its long-running legal action against the possible merger between sports betting giants, Tabcorp and Tatts.