Month: January 2022

The latest proposal would see Blackstone pay $13.10 in cash per Crown share, representing an increase of $0.60 cash per share compared to the previous offer price of $12.50 cash per share. That bid was rejected by Crown in November 2021.

At the time, Crown said the bid did not represent “compelling value” but invited Blackstone to return with another proposal. 

Crown also offered Blackstone the opportunity to access non-public information to allow the group to carry out initial due diligence inquiries on a non-exclusive basis, in order to form a revised proposal that it said would “adequately reflect the value of [the business]”.

Having considered the new offer, Crown’s board said it is in the interests of its shareholders to engage further with Blackstone on a non-exclusive basis. As such, it will provide Blackstone with the opportunity to finalise due diligence inquiries and negotiate the terms of an Implementation agreement so that it can put forward a binding offer.

Should Blackstone make a binding offer at a price of no less than $13.10 cash per share then, subject to the implementation agreement, Crown said its board would unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the proposal.

The latest proposal also remains subject to the further conditions as the previous bid, including final approval from casino regulators in each of Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.

Crown noted that there is no certainty the discussions with Blackstone will result in a change of control transaction or an offer capable of acceptance by Crown shareholders.

Blackstone previously had two other takeover proposals turned down by Crown, the first of which, representing an offer of $11.85 cash per share, was put forward in March 2021. This was increased to $12.35, but again rejected for undervaluing the business.

Crown also drew interest from a number of other parties, including an offer from rival operator Star Entertainment Group to merge and create a combined operation worth approximately $12.00bn. However, Star withdrew its proposal due to its concerns over ongoing regulatory processes with Crown in Victoria.

Alternative investment management business Oaktree Capital Management put forward a proposal to provide up to $3.00bn in funding for a share buy-back programme, and later increased this to $3.1bn.

Included within the Blackstone proposal is an implementation agreement in relation to Crown’s regulatory issues in Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales, with this setting out terms and conditions such as the necessary approvals from relevant courts and gambling regulators.

In October last year, Crown was deemed “unsuitable” to run a casino in Victoria after it was found to have engaged in conduct that was “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative”, but it will not immediately lose its licence and instead face special measures in the state.

Crown in February 2021 was also found to be unsuitable to run a casino in the Barangaroo area of Sydney after the New South Wales Casino Inquiry (Bergin Inquiry) found evidence that its facilities and accounts were used for money laundering. 

However, it may still be able to operate the Barangaroo casino if it makes certain changes, including compliance and financial audits and an end to its dealings with junkets.

In addition, the Western Australia government is investigating Crown to assess its ability to operate a casino in Perth. Its inquiry is due to conclude in March 2022.

Players wagered $779.8m on sports during November, up 72.9% from $451.0m in the same month in 2020, but 7.2% lower than the record $840.4m bet by players in October of 2021.

Figures published by the Illinois Gaming Board showed that $745.8m was wagered online, with the remaining $33.9m staked at retail sportsbooks across the state.

Players spent $593.0m betting on professional sports during the month, as well as $186.6m on college sports and a further $290,913 on motor racing events.

Illinois splits its wagers into two tiers, with tier one bets, defined as wagers on final match results, reaching $466.4m in November, while tier two wagers, such as prop bets or over/unders, attracted $313.4m in total wagers for the month.

Turning to revenue and adjusted gross revenue for November amounted to $79.3m, up 93.4% year-on-year, and comfortably surpassing the previous record of $52.6m set in October 2021 by 50.8%.

Online betting revenue amounted to $74.3m, while retail revenue reached 5.0m.

Fairmount Park, which is partnered with FanDuel, remained the market leader by some margin with $30.3m, ahead of DraftKings partner Casino Queen on $22.2m. Rush Street Interactive and Rush Street Entertainment’s Midwest Gaming joint venture followed in third, with revenue of $13.8m.

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The acquisition was first announced in November 2021, with Flutter explaining that the addition of Tombola to its portfolio strengthen its position in the bingo vertical, an area where the operator has traditionally been weaker.

Tombola has been operating in the UK for 16 years and has an estimated 400,000 players per month, and has since expanded into Italy and Spain. It has also been an early adopter of enhanced player protection efforts, among the first to roll out mandatory staking and deposit limits.

In September the operator was announced as one of ten to receive Dutch online gaming licences in the Netherlands, ahead of the market opening on October 1.

In the same month Tombola joined the Netherlands Online Gambling Association, an advocate group for responsible gambling in the Netherlands. Alongside Tombola, the most prominent licensees included Bet365, Holland Casino and Netherlands state lottery Nederlandse Loterij.

“Tombola is a business we have long admired for its product expertise, highly recreational customer base and focus on sustainable play,” said Flutter’s chief executive Peter Jackson when the acquisition was first announced.

“I am excited to combine Flutter’s digital marketing expertise with Tombola’s operational capabilities within the UK and Ireland division.”

Last month Flutter announced it was to add another brand to its portfolio, striking a deal to acquire Italy’s Sisal for €1.91bn (£1.62bn/$2.20bn). The deal is set to close in Q2 2022.

Sisal is currently one of four operators bidding for the fourth UK National Lottery Licence, against Sazka Group, Sugal & Damani and Camelot, and also operates Italy’s national lottery.

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The renewed deal will run through to 2024 and see FanDuel remain as an official betting operator of the PGA Tour. The pair have worked together since September 2020.

The two parties will also collaborate to deliver odds-based content to fans exclusively via the Tour’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

FanDuel will also have rights in the US to use PGA Tour marks, as well as to advertise within Tour media and partner platforms.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

In this role, Bastien is in charge of supervising the group’s commercial strategy and overseeing the sales force, as well as being a member of the group’s executive committee and trade marketing teams.

Bastien is a graduate of the Higher School of Foreign Trade (ESCE) and the Institute of Business Administration (IAE Paris).

She began her career in the marketing department of the Coca-Cola group in 1994 and continued as brand manager for the Nestea and Minute Maid launches up until 2001 where she joined the sales department in the position of key account manager.

She has since continued in the positions of operational marketing director, strategic projects director, GMS retail director, and national sales director, where she was in charge of international negotiations with the Carrefour group for more than thirty countries before joining FDJ this year.

This appointment comes after FDJ’s reported 5.1% year-on-year rise in revenue for the third quarter of its 2021 financial year after experiencing growth across all areas of its business.

Handle for the year soared to $2.05bn, a vast improvement on the $575.3m staked in the 2020 calendar year.

Retail betting revenue accounted for $26.5m of the overall total in 2021, compared to $14.5m in 2020, while online revenue came to $98.8m, up from $26.9m.

The year ended with sports wagering revenue for December coming to $13.4m. The majority of the revenue – $11.9m – was derived from online betting, though this was down from $17.0m in November 2021. Retail betting revenue also decreased 48.3% month-over-month to $1.5m.

Overall sports betting handle for the month amounted to $266.5m, down from $287.4m in November. This led to a decrease in payouts to players as the $253.1m recorded dropped 5.4% compared to November.

The sports betting revenue recorded compares favorably to the same time in 2020 when figures were heavily impacted by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Revenue has increased 78.7% while handle skyrocketed by 154.3%. Payouts have also increased significantly, up from $97.3m.

Diamond Jo in Worth’s FanDuel sportsbook was the best performer in terms of revenue, generating $1.993m in December. This only just edged out Penn National’s Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, who recorded revenue of $1.992m.

Diamond Jo’s Dubuque venue replaced Penn National Gaming-owned venue Ameristar II in third place, with revenue figures of $1.9m.

For Iowa’s fiscal year to date, which runs from 1 July to 30 June 2022, players have staked $1.25bn on sports, winning $1.18bn. This left revenue of $70.7m, comprising $14.5m from retail outlets and $56.2m from mobile offerings.

Korb, who served as CFO since June 2018, becomes head of corporate affairs.

Reporting directly to Ciavarella, Korb’s responsibilities will include a range of corporate initiatives and activities related to growth and capital strategies.

“I want to thank Mark for his extraordinary contribution during a period of explosive growth for Elys, as CFO since June 2018,” Elys executive chairman Michele Ciavarella said. “Mark has a proven track record for building key relationships and leading companies through high-stakes projects and look forward to working together with him in his new role as head of corporate affairs.”

Carlo Reali, Elys’ group financial controller since October 2020, replaces Korb on an interim basis.

He joined the business in January 2017 as finance manager with its Multigioco subsidiary after a spell as executive finance manager for Snai, a role in which he took on following its 2015 acquisition of S.I.S, where he had been chairman and executive financial manager since January 2001.

“Carlo has been a highly valuable team member for many years and has demonstrated strong leadership within our financial department,” Ciavarella said. 

“I am very pleased to promote from within and further leverage Carlo’s robust experience in corporate finance and strategy in the leisure betting industry as we continue to execute on our long-term vision both in Europe and North America.”

Elys also named Tory Key as its US business development project leader, with a remit to lead business development by providing outreach to potential partners, as well as overseeing sportsbook launches.

In addition, Steven Maldonado has joined as US head of product compliance, a role in which he will spearhead engagements with the Washington DC Office of Lottery and Gaming, and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to support the business’s growth plans in the US market.

“As we aim to further distinguish our products and maintain our technology edge in the US marketplace, I am also thrilled to have Tory Key and Steven Maldonado strengthen our US leadership joining Matteo Monteverdi and our USBookmaking team,” Ciavarella said.

“Both Tory and Steven are highly accomplished experts in their roles and have been instrumental in the launch of Elys’ US-facing operations and onboarding our strong and growing pipeline of US clients.”