PlayUp and CrossBet customers will migrate to new Australian brand NextBet as lawyers attempt to claw back unpaid legal bills owed to them.
PlayUp and CrossBet customers will migrate to mysterious new Australian brand NextBet as lawyers attempt to claw back unpaid legal bills owed to them.
According to PlayUp’s website, all players will now migrate to NextBet, which will become the operator’s primary brand going forward.
It clarified that CrossBet’s brand will be entirely discontinued while PlayUp’s will continue to operate “in the short term,” with the site due to temporarily shut down during the transfer on 28 February.
The news follows a NEXT.io scoop in November that revealed PlayUp shareholders were set to vote on the company’s A$18.6m sale to CrossBet, which later passed amid opposition from some shareholders.
One shareholder told NEXT.io they have neither received money from the sale, nor was their share capital transferred into NextBet.
PlayUp faces intense legal liability
The deal came amid intense legal scrutiny for PlayUp and its chief executive Daniel Simic, due to his ongoing case against PlayUp’s former US CEO Laila Mintas, which alleges she torpedoed the operator’s attempted $450m sale to FTX in 2021.
Mintas has since turned the tables on Simic in the suit, with only her counterclaims against him remaining, and in July 2025 a judge ordered Simic’s devices to be examined by a court-ordered forensic investigator.
Sources close to PlayUp told NEXT.io last year that Simic had hired the services of an M&A expert adept at structuring deals to minimise legal liability.
The business has been in hot water recently for allegedly failing to pay its legal bills.
Just this week, international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer won a round in its attempt to claw back $330,000 in unpaid legal bills from PlayUp, although it is unclear whether the business has any assets remaining.
It is not clear exactly who or what is behind NextBet, which launched as “challenger in the Australian wagering market” in September 2025 alongside a release announcing its acquisition of CrossBet.
In the release, the company said it was to be an acquisitions vehicle for the mid-tier Australian wagering market, “rolling up undercapitalised lower-tier operators while driving operational efficiency”.
According to publicly available Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) filings, NextBet is CrossBet’s renamed corporate vehicle, which is owned by a different CrossBet entity.
This entity in turn is owned by a variety of shareholders, the largest being a separate group that includes members of the Cross family.
The filings also list two directors – Scott Cross and Harley Dalton, founder of CrossBet’s former owner Altor Capital.
NEXT.io has reached out to NextBet for comment.