Month: November 2021

Playtech said that it has provided access to due diligence information to JKO, which is in talks with Centerbridge Partners regarding institutional debt and structured capital funding to finance a possible deal.

However, Playtech also noted discussions with JKO are at an early stage and that there is no certainty JKO’s preliminary approach will result in a firm offer for the business.

Jordan and O’Loughlin were previously linked with an approach for OpenBet, Scientific Games’ sportsbook business, which has since been sold to IMG Arena owner Endeavor Group.

The announcement adds a third potential acquirer for Playtech into the mix.

Australian slot machine manufacturer Aristocrat last month agreed to acquire Playtech in a deal worth approximately £2.70bn (€3.22bn/$3.64bn), and remains the frontrunner.

However, earlier in November Gopher Investments, a minority shareholder in Playtech, made its own preliminary approach, offering a reported £3.00bn for the business.

Gopher has been granted access to due diligence information for this purpose, but added that as with JKO, discussions were at an early stage and ongoing, with no certainty a firm offer would be made.

The Aristocrat deal is contingent on certain customary and conditions, including shareholder approval for the sale of Playtech’s Finalto financial trading division, which, incidentally, is set to be acquired by Gopher.

In September, Playtech agreed to sell Finalto to Gopher for $250.0m after its shareholders rejected a board-backed bid led by the Barinboim Group.

Despite the rival approaches, Playtech is continuing to work with Aristocrat to implement the recommended acquisition agreement struck in October. The supplier added that the regulatory approval process is on track, with the aim of completing the deal by the second quarter of next year.

Responding to the approach from JKO, Aristocrat acknowledged the news, but upheld its view that its proposed takeover of Playtech would offer the best option for the business.

“Aristocrat believes that the terms of the recommended acquisition and the compelling strategic rationale, provides certainty for Playtech shareholders with no contingent value or other complicated structures for shareholders to realise value,” Aristocrat said.

“We also believe that the combined group will provide greater opportunities to Playtech employees.

“Our long-term engagement with regulators across key gaming jurisdictions, together with our strong financial fundamentals, deep customer relationships and established presence in global gaming markets, positions us to complete the transaction as planned in the second quarter of calendar year 2022.”

Aristocrat has committed certain funds to fund the acquisition with financing facilities in place and has completed an equity raise of AUS$1.3bn, with strong uptake from Aristocrat shareholders. 

Last week, Playtech also published the scheme document for that deal, convening relevant shareholder meetings to approve the acquisition on 12 January.

Aristocrat urged Playtech shareholders to vote in favour of the acquisition at these meetings.

Shares in Playtech were trading up 2.77% at 761.50 pence per share in London this morning, while shares in Aristocrat closed down 3.61% at AUD$45.64 per share in Sydney.

Parx Casino led the way in overall revenue, bringing in $457.4m, up 4.4% from 2020. Close behind was Hollywood Casino at Penn National, where revenue increased by 63.2% to $57.1m.

Rivers Casino Philadelphia and Wind Creek Bethlehem followed, bringing in $46.3m and $46.2m respectively.

Looking at revenue by product, slot machines accounted for almost half of total land-based revenue at $203.3m a 31.7% improvement on October 2020. With $33.6m, Parx again led the market. 

However table game revenue grew rapidly, with operators’ offerings having been limited by Covid-19 controls in 2020. Revenue for the vertical was up 40.7% to $89.1m. Wind Creek led the way with a $21.6m take.

Pennsylvania’s online market also reached new heights in the month, with $102.9m a 72.1% year-on-year improvement. Online slot revenue came to $70.7m (up 75.4%) and online table game revenue grew 72.3% to $29.3m. Revenue from online poker was up 17.8% to $2.8m.

Hollywood Casino at Penn National, with both a DraftKings igaming offering and a second under its own brand, brought in $40.6m in online revenue, up 161.2%, to lead the market.

Following in a distant second was Rivers Casino Philadelphia and its Rush Street Interactive offering with $26.3m, a 38.4% increase. FanDuel partner Valley Forge, meanwhile, brought in $18.8m, up 87.2%, for third position.

However sports betting was unable to match online and in-person casino’s performance. While handle reached a record-breaking $776.3m, revenue was down 36.0% year-on-year to $23.5m.

FanDuel, partnered with Valley Forge, led the way with players staking $275.4m. After winnings were paid out, monthly revenue came to $11.6m, a 25.8% decline from the prior year.

Penn National Gaming’s Barstool Sportsbook, at Penn’s Hollywood Casino at the Meadows venue, came second with $7.1m in revenue, as players bet $204.1m.

DraftKings and its partner Hollywood Casino at Penn National, meanwhile, reported a $1.1m loss, despite wagers of $73.6m.

After the month ended, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) approved four consent agreements between the PGCB’s Office of Enforcement Counsel and three casino operators including Caesars and Penn National Gaming. This resulting in a total of $150,000 in fines being issued. 

The deal would see DraftKings’ mobile sportsbook become available in the state of Kansas, pending the passage of legislation.

The launch of sports betting in Kansas is reliant on whether Senate Bill 84 passes. The bill was introduced in January this year and initially passed Senate by a vote of 26-12.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Fast Forward has overseen the facility since its launch in 2018, working with young people and the adults in their lives to raise awareness of gambling harms, as well as ensuring staff at the site are confident in their ability to offer harm reduction advice and signpost those who need it to advice and support.

To date, the Hub has trained staff from more than 550 different organisations across all 32 local authorities in Scotland including schools, colleges, universities, youth work and family services. 

Funded by GambleAware, the Hub will continue to work on ensuring children, young people and families in Scotland have access to gambling education and prevention opportunities and resources.

GambleAware said it will also make a number of improvements to the program structure so that partners, practitioners and policymakers remain engaged with the issue. 

This will include offering a more tailored approach to gambling prevention and education training for professionals and practitioners, as well as widening the existing training and resources, and increasing the availability of gambling harm awareness and support tools.

The Hub will also continue to facilitate and broaden the scope of activities in partnership with the Scottish Gambling Education Network (SGEN), including the launch of a new national conference in 2022.

“Fast Forward has demonstrated its value as a key partner to prevent gambling harm among young people in Scotland,” GambleAware prevention director Dr Jane Rigbye said. “Given the success of the work already carried out, continuity is vital. 

“The Scottish Education Hub has engaged with young people, parents, the community and youth workers in an impactful and creative way to deliver unique projects over the years.  

“We are delighted to support them further in their prevention and education work and look forward to publishing the independent evaluation of the project for their work in 2022.” 

Fast Forward chief executive Allie Cherry-Byrnes added: “Fast Forward’s work supports young people to make informed choices regarding risk-taking behaviours, towards positive life-long health  outcomes. 

“Gambling has become normalised in our communities, with many young people affected by their own gambling, or by the gambling of a parent, carer, or family member. 

“The renewed funding from GambleAware means that the Scottish Gambling Education Hub will continue to work with young people, parents and educators to raise awareness of gambling harms and ensure support is accessible if they need it.”

The announcement comes after GambleAware in September set out plans to establish a network of new Gambling Education Hubs across England and Wales, committing £2.5m (€2.9m/$3.4m) to the project. The facilities will be based on the existing Scottish Gambling Education Hub.

GambleAware last week also revealed that it had awarded a £250,000 grant to a team of researchers to help build evidence of the lived experiences of women in relation to gambling and gambling-related harm.

The decision – which Acroud expects to also boost revenue going forward – will lead to a one-off cost of between €200,000 and €250,000.

Robert Andersson, chief executive of Acroud, said the business had to reduce its headcount following a number of acquisitions.

Acroud acquired Power Media Group in January for €4.8m (£4.0m/5.4m), which allowed it to offer Software as a Service (SaaS) as a new division within the business. Affiliate business TheGamblingCabin in April was then acquired in a deal worth SEK47.3m (£4.1m/€4.7m/$5.6m), in April.

“This is a clear result of our strategy to become more effective and software-based while utilising synergies,” Andersson explained. “After multiple acquisitions, we have taken a big step towards being a more software driven affiliate, and have now identified cost synergies. 

“This means that we are able to do more with less people,” he continued. “We expect to see the significant effects on EBITDA levels from this program in 2022 and onwards. A leaner, more agile company will keep a higher pace and will adopt quicker to changes. Our goal is always to keep a firm eye on our costs while accelerating our growth in line with our strategy.”

The announcement comes soon after Acroud’s third quarter earnings, which showed its acquisitions significantly boosted revenue. For the three months to 30 September, revenue was up 171.3% at €6.4m – though on a pro-forma basis, this represented an increase of just 0.3%.

In exchange, the NBA will receive warrants to purchase 3% of the outstanding shares in Sportradar for $0.01 each.

The multi-year year deal continues a partnership that started in 2016, and will begin at the start of the 2023-24 NBA season.

Sportradar will also be both the authorised global distributor of official NBA and WNBA betting data, and the distributor of live game video that is available to international sports betting operators for fans to experience in real time.

“We are delighted that the NBA has chosen Sportradar as the official partner who can support the global popularity and explosive growth of the game,” said Carsten Koerl, Sportradar’s CEO.  “Basketball is the largest US sport in the world by popularity and, as a market leader, we are best positioned with the technological expertise and industry relationships to help the NBA entertain fans globally.” 

“We believe that this agreement will contribute to Sportradar’s profitable business and continued growth. The remaining time left on the existing deal, and this new multi-year agreement, gives us significant runway to partner with the NBA and develop exciting solutions across our teams, betting and sports entertainment verticals.” 

The NBA becomes the latest sporting organisation Sportradar has partnered with, having secured deals with UEFA and the International Handball Federation this month.

Scott Kaufman-Ross, senior vice president, head of gaming and new business ventures at the NBA, said: “Sportradar has been a terrific partner as the league has navigated its exploration into the global sports betting landscape.

“As the market matures, we are thrilled to extend our partnership with Sportradar to utilise data and insights to create new fan experiences and innovate around the NBA globally.”

The deal is also represents another step in Sportradar’s growth in the US, where a strong performance helped boost the company’s financial results for the third quarter of 2021. The supplier recorded revenue figures of €136.8m ($158.7m/£115.1m) for the third quarter of 2021, representing a 29.9% increase on the same period last year.

A total of 8,930 associations across 74 sports will share the donation.

The associations were chosen by 686,064 Svenska Spel customers- a 7.0% rise in responses compared to 2020.

“I have played at an elite level for many years, but I never forget where I come from and what significance my parent association had for me,” said Swedish footballer Robin Quaison,

“Sports clubs around the country getting a supplement through Svenska Spel’s Gräsroten feels fantastic. This means that more children and young people can get moving.”

Football got the highest donation at SEK16.0m. Ice hockey came next with SEK5.6m, while handball received SEK1.8m.

“Every kroner that goes to our sports associations- not least now after the pandemic- is an important investment so that they can continue to contribute to public health and community,” said Björn Eriksson, chairman of the Swedish Sports Confederation.

“The fact that Gräsroten is reaching more and more associations spread across the country is very gratifying and contributes to creating conditions for the associations all over the country.”

This is the ninth consecutive year in which Svenska Spel has donated a large sum to Swedish youth sports through Gräsroten.

Last month, Svenska Spel reported a 6.7% rise in revenue in its third quarter 2021 results.

The regulator also announced a partnership with esports training facility Esportshall in September, to promote esports in Sweden.

Revenue for the three months to 30 September was down 14.9% from the second quarter of the year, but up 38.5% compared to Q3 2020.

At €64.8m casino games made up the majority of the quarterly total, a 55.3% improvement compared to the third quarter of 2020.

Players wagered €1.78bn on casino games, 50.8% higher than Q3 2020.

Slots made up 77.5% of the total stakes, followed by roulette with 9.8%. Blackjack contributed 5.2%, and 3.8% came from French roulette. Cash poker made up 2.5%, while tournaments made up 0.9%.

Online sports betting revenue, meanwhile, came to €49.3m, an increase of 16.0% year-on-year.

Players staked €296.9m on sports, which was a rise of 33.2% year-on-year. Football was the most popular sport over the three months, accounting for 82.1% of total betting volume.

The Portuguese Primeira Liga and the Uefa Champions League made up 10.1% of the total sports betting stakes alone, while tennis accounted for 13.2% of Q3 handle.

Gaming tax totaled at €40.0m, an increase of 41.3% year-on-year.

The SRIJ also revealed that 26 new online gaming licences were issued throughout Q3. In total, 15 sports betting licences were issued while casino licences made up the remaining 11.

New player registrations also increased, with 162,300 registering in Q3, a rise of 3.5%.

Throughout Q3, 39.9% of players bet on sports, while 27.5% of players bet on casino games. The remaining 32.6% bet on both simultaneously. A total of 651,000 players placed bets in Q3 overall.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which was recently valued at $25bn after its own Series B-1 round closed in October, and San Francisco-based crypto investment firm Paradigm led the round.

Multicoin Capital, Hack VC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sino Global Capital, Solana Ventures, and Everblue Management also participated in the round.

“We are thrilled to be backing a team with deep industry expertise to transform the sports betting experience,” FTX co-founder and chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried said. 

“It is mind-boggling that more sports wagering does not occur on exchanges – we firmly believe in giving consumers the ability and control to set their own price and are excited to partner with BetDex to bring this vision to fruition.”

Paradigm investment partner Arjun Balaji added: “It feels obvious crypto will transform online sports betting. The BetDex team has the right combination of industry experience and technical skill to create something that shows the way forward for everyone working in the space.”

BetDex, which is based in Scotland, launched last month with the aim of delivering a “global sports betting protocol that enables users to trade bets at high speed and minimal cost with zero counterparty risk”. 

Its platform is due to launch for customers during the first half of 2022, and aims to marry cryptocurrency with sports, branding itself as the first decentralised sports betting exchange in the market.

Eccles, who left FanDuel four years ago, is serving as non-executive chair of BetDex, having co-founded the platform with Varun Sudhakar and Stuart Tonner. Sudhakar has been named chief executive and Tonner chief technology officer.

“Blockchain technology is set to revolutionise sports betting and we want to be at the forefront of that,” Eccles said. “It’s exciting to be founding the business with Varun and Stuart, and to be building it in Scotland. 

“We are energised to have the backing and wealth of expertise that comes with having Paradigm and FTX as cornerstone investors.”

Damestani (pictured) – who first attended ICE in 2003 – will work closely with Clarion Gaming in the role to help ensure the show fits the needs of its stakeholders. The announcement comes amid preparations for the 2022 edition of ICE London, which takes place from 1 to 3 February.

“I came to the industry in 2003 at a time when UK gambling operators were lobbying for greater freedoms which were subsequently contained within the Gambling Act of 2005,” Damestani said.

“From the word go everyone who has been a part of the industry has also been part of the development of the ICE brand, which I have to say has evolved over the last two decades into a world class high spec event with an international attendance that’s unrivalled by any other gambling industry event held anywhere in the world.

Stuart Hunter, managing director responsible for ICE London said that Damestani’s contributions would help ensure Clarion delivers what people expect of the ICE brand.

“I’m delighted that Tracy has been able to accept our invitation to become an ICE London Ambassador,” he said. “As former CEO of the National Casino Forum and vice-chair of the European Casino Association she knows the brand inside out and has experienced its development and growth over the last 20-years. 

“Tracy defines the role of ‘critical friend’ and her contributions will help ensure that Clarion Gaming continues to serve as a progressive custodian of the brand.”

Damestani has worked in C-level roles in the gambling industry for more than a decade, including as the chief executive of the National Casino Forum. She explained that having lead the association, she valued the role of ICE in acting as a “rallying point” for every gaming verticals.

The show serves as a “shop window for all that is good about gaming”, she added.

“I believe the industry looks to ICE to speak out on pertinent issues and the brand has taken a leadership role in helping to address the key topics of the day and helping to change negative perceptions especially those around gender, equality and inclusion – which is why I am particularly proud to have been invited to become an ICE Ambassador.”

Damestani becomes the second ICE ambassador, after Hippodrome Casino chief executive Simon Thomas.

Click here to register for ICE London 2022.