Computershare gets the blame for botched shareholder vote.
Plus, news of a California AG opinion on fantasy sports.
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A mockery
Computer says no: PointsBet’s shareholder vote on the A$402m ($263m) Mixi takeover offer turned to farce overnight, after the company blamed the share registry service Computershare for a mix up that meant the votes from Betr – the rival bidder with a 20% stake in PointsBet – were discounted from the final tally.
Hands up: In a letter to PointsBet, the CEO of issuer services at Computershare, Marnie Reid, took ownership of the cock-up.
She confirmed the tale given by PointsBet the day previously that a Betr representative had attended the meeting online, had not cast a vote and that hence the shares held by Betr were not counted at the Scheme Meeting.
Reid added that this information was confirmed in writing to Baker McKenzie, the legal adviser to PointsBet, during the course of the day.
Reid told the Australian Financial Review that the company’s “long-tenured team cannot recall this kind of error occurring in a scheme proposal previously.”
Reverse ferret: However, Reid said after further investigation Computershare has now determined that, “due to an issue with the system,” Betr’s votes were “incorrectly excluded from the final voting results that we provided to PointsBet at the conclusion of the Scheme Meeting.”
“I confirm that Betr’s proxy was not revoked by the Betr representative,” she added.
The new vote tallies show that 29.5% voted against accepting the Mixi takeover proposal with 70.5% in favor, which PointsBet admitted meant it did not receive the requisite majority.
Subsequently, as was previously promised, PointsBet announced that Mixi has immediately launched its own off-market takeover offer.
Betr appeared to cast aspersions against PointsBet for the error having happened in the first place, saying the approach taken by the company was unprofessional and irresponsible.
It added that it reflected a “failure of appropriate governance, and not merely an error by Computershare as PointsBet has suggested.”
A fair fight: Betr added that it was concerned the PointsBet board was “seeking to transfer control to Mixi without allowing a genuine contest to take place.
It called on PointsBet “not to permit the early despatch of Mixi’s bidder statement and the opening of Mixi’s takeover offer.”
Betr added it was important that PointsBet’s shareholders have a “reasonable opportunity to consider and comment” on the Mixi statement before being accepted.
The company added that it continued to prepare its own all-share off market offer and would share details of this in the coming days.
Pre-approval: However, PointsBet has already circulated the Mixi takeover offer, which made the point that its previous scheme had received over 90% of the ex-Betr votes in the count. The renewed takeover offer at A$1.20 a share also comes with the “unanimous recommendation” of the PointsBet board.
The new off-market offer would only need the acceptance of 50.1% of shareholders.
More tit, more tat: As noted in an Earnings Extra edition earlier this week, the tit-for-tat exchanges between PointsBet and rival Betr Entertainment culminated in a debate over the competing claims made about the value of crossover customers.
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California AGgro
As per Compliance+More this morning, California AG Rob Bonta is reported to be ready to issue a legal opinion that all online fantasy sports games within the state are illegal, according to multiple sources who spoke to local media KCRA 3.
The opinion will finally settle an issue that has been in doubt for over a decade since former Vice President Kamala Harris was California AG.
The Coalition for Fantasy Sports told KCRA it was “shocking” that the state would deny Californians a product they had been playing for “more than a decade.”
Sacra blur: Separately, the California Nations Indian Gaming Association has been circulating a letter to legislators in Sacramento saying they understand that “certain fantasy sports operators” may be seeking to introduce legislation to regulate and tax their operations.
The letter said that “should a bill be introduced before the Attorney General’s opinion is released and fully evaluated, we will be compelled to oppose it.”
On maneuvers: All this is happening at the same time the California tribes are backing a legislative maneuver to push an anti-sweepstakes measure that would criminalize not only operators but games producers and providers, as well as affiliates.
In tomorrow’s E+M
Raising the stakes: Onshore and offshore prediction market operators, Kalshi and Polymarket, are reported to have raised new money from investors, valuing the businesses at $2bn and $1bn respectively.
The ever-shy Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour took to X to pronounce that the company had raised $185m at a $2bn valuation.
The round was led by crypto-focused investor Paradigm with participation from Sequoia, Multicoin, Neo, Bond Capital and Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao.
“What once felt impossible now looks inevitable,” he posted.
Kalshi’s news came a day after it was reported by Reuters that the Shayne Coplan-led Polymarket has raised $200m at a $1bn valuation in a funding round led by existing investor, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
Also in tomorrow’s Weekender
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a cross-sell opportunity: The challenger this week is Omnigame while there is also a focus on the rise of the superfan.
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