World Gaming ups stakes
World Gaming is to expand its online gaming business through the acquisition of the Sportsbetting.com Group for up to $98m (£54m).
The AIM-quoted company, which is also listed on New York’s Nasdaq, is a software provider for some of the largest e-gaming sites, including Sportsbetting. It also provides software to rival sportsbook.com, the world’s seventh largest sports betting website.
The total purchase price will depend on Sportsbetting.com’s profits performance, but will range from £40m to a maximum of £54m.
The acquisition marks a significant move into internet gaming operations for World Gaming — Sportsbetting.com owns a number of gaming brands in horse racing, casino and poker. World Gaming chief executive Daniel Moran — once managing director for Sportingbet Australia, said: “Sportsbetting.com’s software and systems are already running on our systems, we already manage their customer services — the only thing we weren’t doing for them was marketing.
“In any normal acquisition, all these things have to be looked through, but in our case, most of it is already there.”
Greg Feehely of Altium Securities said the deal makes good sense. “Software providers in the industry are not in a good position, as the more the gaming companies grow, the more they demand to pay lower royalties to the software firms. To diversify is a shrewd move.”
The acquisition is still subject to World Gaming raising the necessary money through debt and equity, and getting shareholder approval at the AGM, due to be held late in November.