Aussie litigation on internet bookie's alleged staff poaching

Sportsbet, an Australian online bookmaking subsidiary of Paddy Power, has applied for a court injunction against its former CEO, Matthew Tripp and his new venture, the online betting company BetEasy, to halt the employment of a former Sportsbet staffer, Kelli Carpanini.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the litigation is an attempt to prevent Sportsbet employees defecting to BetEasy, and that the injunction action was filed with the Victorian Supreme Court, alleging that Carpanini had begun working for BetEasy in breach of a ‘non-compete restraint period’.

Sportsbet further claims that Carpanini is in breach of conditions in her Sportsbet contract by failing to keep communications confidential.

Tripp and local investors built Sportsbet into a successful company after buying it for just A$250,000 in 2005.

His gardening leave from Sportsbet following the A$338 million Paddy Power takeover expired on March 1, and backed by Sportsbet’s original investors and members of the company’s 2005 founding management team, he has bought the assets of the old Betezy company in order to reorganise, refresh and rebrand the enterprise as BetEasy.

The newspaper observes that the Australian online sports betting market is far more competitive now following arrival of giants like Paddy Power and William Hill, and more focus on internet betting by Tatts and Tabcorp.

Land casino baron James Packer’s Crown Resorts is also reportedly well advanced in securing full ownership of Betfair Australia .