The battle to buy Australian-based and Canadian-focused gaming operator PointsBet continues with new twists.

Fellow Australian sports betting firm Betr Entertainment (not to be confused with U.S. sportsbook and daily fantasy sports company Betr) has announced a new 100% buyout offer worth $360 million AUD ($318 million CAD), which is comprised of $260 million AUD ($230 million CAD) in cash and $100 million AUD ($88 million CAD) in scrip, essentially an in-company substitute for legal tender.

Betr, formerly known as BlueBet, has already purchased a 19.9% stake in PointsBet via a share purchase agreement with two prominent PointsBet investors. It said it will undertake an equity raising of $130 million to partially fund both the acquisition and a buyout of the remaining 80.1% of shares.

Betr would sell PointsBet Canada assets to Hard Rock

PointsBet offers sports betting in Australia and both digital sports wagering and online casino in Ontario’s regulated market.

However, in the statement, Betr noted that one way in which it would raise the $230 million CAD cash portion of the funding to buy out PointsBet would be via selling part of PointsBet’s Canadian assets, as it has “received a non-binding proposal from Seminole Hard Rock Digital, LLC to acquire certain assets which relate to PointsBet’s Canadian operations.”

In its proposal update for the PointsBet transaction, Betr specifies that Hard Rock Digital would acquire those assets for $29.6 million USD ($40.9 million CAD). The sale transaction is subject to customary conditions including entry into binding transaction documents, confirmatory due diligence, the receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals and gaming licences and the approval by the board of directors of Hard Rock Digital.

Per the Earnings+More newsletter, Betr Chair Matthew Tripp said the assets in question largely comprised a player database.

Canadian Gaming Business reached out to Betr, PointsBet, and Hard Rock Digital seeking more information. Hard Rock Digital declined to comment.

Hard Rock Bet holds an effective monopoly on sports betting in Florida and also offers sports wagering in numerous other U.S. states including Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. It provides an all-in-one online sports betting and online casino platform in New Jersey.

Hard Rock Digital has an office in Toronto.

Betr added that it has tested the North American market and considers this divestment represents value for PointsBet shareholders.

“Critically, the divestment ensures that the combined business is laser-focused on the highly attractive Australian wagering market,” added the company.

Betr intends to torpedo MIXI offer

Betr is competing with Japanese entertainment giant MIXI in its attempt to take over PointsBet.

PointsBet announced in February that it intended to accept a $353 million AUD (currently $312 million CAD) offer from MIXI that it said is supported by the majority of PointsBet’s board.

However, though PointsBet publicly stated that Betr’s initial offer was highly conditional, unfunded and “could not reasonably be expected” to lead to a better offer than MIXI’s, multiple investors told Australian media around that time that they may look to kibosh the MIXI offer in favour of the Betr bid.

In its new statement, Betr argued that its own proposal provides “significantly greater value” to PointsBet shareholders than MIXI’s offer. Betr says its updated offer increases the potential value to $1.33 AUD ($1.17 CAD) per share for PointsBet shareholders, versus MIXI’s return of $1.06 AUD (roughly 93 cents in CAD) per share.

“As the largest shareholder in PointsBet, we now intend to vote our holding against the current MIXI proposal, reducing its likelihood of success,” Tripp said in a statement.

PointsBet needs the support of more than 50% of shareholders voting and at least 75% of the shares cast on the resolution to ratify the MIXI deal.