Good morning. On today’s agenda:

• Data provider Stats Perform is rumored to be up for sale.

• The SBC Summit Barcelona kicks off on Tuesday.

• Startup focus looks at the SBC First Pitch finalists.

• DraftKings ‘breaking the trend’ on marketing.

• Betr CEO suggests it is making ground in DFS downloads.

When you saw me leaving, did you think I had a place to go?

Data for sale

Stats Perform is rumored to be up for sale.

The vista from here: Data provider Stats Perform has been put up for sale by its private equity owners Vista Equity Partners, according to Bloomberg. The article noted that although strategic options are being discussed with its advisers, a formal sale process is not underway.

• The article didn’t mention a price.

• Stats Perform was formed in April 2019 by the merger of the Vista-owned and US-focused Stats and European-based Perform, owned by DAZN.

• Vista has owned Chicago-based Stats since 2014 when it acquired the company from Fox Sports and the Associated Press.

A short list: A trade sale is the most likely exit with both Sportradar and Genius Sports as potential buyers of the business, which owns the market-leading B2C data business Opta. A further private equity buy would be another possibility.

• Stats Perform also runs the RunningBall B2B data offering and the Watch&Bet streaming offering.

M&A notebook

Playtika has snapped up Israeli-based mobile games developer Innplay Labs for an initial $80m, which could rise to $300m with earnouts. The deal follows the $165m buyout of Azerion’s Youda Games.

• “The acquisition of Innplay Labs represents another strategic expansion of our portfolio with a promising and innovative growth franchise,” said Playtika CEO Robert Antokol.

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The week ahead

The SBC Summit Barcelona kicks off with a Leaders event on Tuesday.

Super trooper: The fall conference season kicks off this week in Barcelona with the SBC Summit. Opening on day one will be Daniel Taylor, CEO, international at Flutter Entertainment on Wednesday at 10am CET. 

• Much of the focus with Flutter remains on its US ambitions; it is set to achieve its dual-listing in the US around the turn of this year and into 2024. 

• But Taylor’s address will be on how the company has developed its ambitions elsewhere via what the company calls the Flutter Edge.

• The phrase now associated with Flutter when it comes to global markets such as Italy, India and Brazil is ‘podium position’ and Taylor will discuss what Flutter can bring to brands such as Sisal and Junglee Games.

Other highlights

• We are one: Later on day one (12:20pm) panelists including Corey Plummer, CEO at Olympic Entertainment, Alberto Eljarrat at Sportium, Xabier Rodríguez-Maribona from RETAbet and Fabio Schiavolin from Playtech-owned Snaitech take another swing at discussing omnichannel.

• Affiliate focus: Jesper Søgaard, CEO at Better Collective, will be worth listening to during an affiliate leaders panel earlier on day one at 11:20pm. 

• He will be joined by Jonas Warrer, the newly-minted CEO for the GiG affiliate business, Jonathan Edelshaim, CEO at Natural Intelligence, Johan Svensson, founder at Raketech and Jonas Cederholm, CEO at Game Lounge.

E+M @ SBC

Two cents’ worth: Scott Longley from Earnings+More will be hosting a panel during SBC’s Leaders event on Tuesday at the W Hotel, which will discuss the earnings and investment outlook for Europe and beyond.

• He will be joined by Tom Bowry, chief strategy officer, international at Flutter Entertainment, James Brodie, director of interactive, international at MGM Resorts and Ramy Ibrahim, managing director at Moelis & Company.

Velvet rope: Earlier on Tuesday, Flutter’s Taylor will also be speaking alongside Gustaf Hagman, CEO at the MGM-owned LeoVegas and Joanne Whittaker CEO at Betfred among others for a panel entitled Behind Closed Doors.

• Later in the day, the intersection between sports and media will be discussed by Dam Sadi, CEO at Livescore Group, Jesper Søgaard, CEO at Better Collective, Patrick Fischer, co-CEO at OneFootball and Francesco Carione from Gazzetta dello Sport.

Calendar

• Sep 19: SBC Leaders Summit, Barcelona

• Sep 20-21: SBC Summit Barcelona

Startup focus – SBC Pitch finalists

Five compete for a prize worth over €60,000.

You know the drill: The SBC Pitch competition takes place this coming Wednesday as companies set out their stall to a panel of industry experts. The five companies are:

• We The Bookie: Ireland-based “socially responsible” sports-betting operator, which offers a 50% monthly GGR rebate for losing customers via its WeShare.

• Rdentify: A platform that identifies vulnerable customers during customer conversations in real-time and flags them to the safer gambling team and triggers customisable interventions as soon as behavioral risk occurs.

• SnapOdds: SnapOdds promotes itself as the Shazam for sports betting, allowing operators and affiliates to integrate SnapOdds into their websites. See an E+M feature on the company from August 2022.

• SQR Group: Another regtech company that simplifies compliance and reduces fraud by enabling seamless identity verification without storing sensitive documents, using secure QR code technology.

• Sport Exchange Market: A web app platform where fans can trade virtual shares of football teams, experiencing the same adrenaline as when they are betting or playing fantasy sports games.

Here be dragons: The panel will be hosted by Anton Kaszubowski, managing director at SBC Advisory Partners and features Adam Rosenberg, senior advisor in gaming and leisure at Blackstone, Evert Einroos, partner at Yolo Investments, Peter Heneghen, senior associate at Bettor Capital, Hilary Stewart-Jones, independent consultant at Harris Hagan and Claudia de la Riva, angel investor.

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Betr’s boost

CEO Joey Levy suggests Betr is making ground in downloads.

Betr is “beginning to compete” and is “ready to begin accelerating” its growth after its first-ever NFL week one, according to CEO Joey Levy. Noting it has “been around for considerably less time than the competition”, Levy said Betr was ranked fifth for new app downloads in DFS.

• Levy claimed Betr was “exceeding our plan” and that the initial data was “very encouraging”. 

• He added that this was “all with a very early version of our product”.

• “We have significant product and marketing enhancements being released over the next few weeks and months,” he said.

Growth company news

What’s the story: New fantasy-sports startup Units has launched its namesake app in 19 states including Washington DC. The differential for Units is that instead of numbers-driven lines, its contests are based on character-driven storylines.

• New-York based Units was founded in January by Torey Korsunsky who has worked in the sports media area with CAA, WSC Sports, and Deloitte.

• Korsunsky said Units makes fantasy play “accessible to all fans through easily consumable storylines and formats”.

• The company said 80% of sports fans are “not hardcore players” in sports gaming and many are “too intimidated” by current DFS or sports-betting offerings. 

• The app features a curated set of between eight and 10 daily stories focusing on the “most interesting and compelling narratives” with users able to play with or against the narrative.

Prime time: New Jersey-based Out Of The Gate soft launched its Prime Sportsbook in Ohio last week, becoming the state’s 20th sportsbook, Sports Handle reported. Out Of The Gate gained its license via a partnership with Geneva Sports.

SB22: The Dallas-based startup said it has launched its Lucky22 system, which aims to streamline sports betting via the company’s self-service gaming kiosk by giving players a set of tailored wagering offers that can be adjusted based on how much players want to win.

News from the smoke: Who are London’s most influential gambling startups in 2023?

Analyst takes – DraftKings

DraftKings is ‘breaking the trend’ of incentive-driven marketing, says JMP.

On trend: Accelerating product development in H1 has been the driver behind DraftKings’ market share gains and has helped break the cycle of using cash incentives to increase customer retention, according to the analysts at JMP.

• The team suggested the ability to go toe-to-toe with FanDuel with a “comparable product” will “reduce reliance on spending and drive operating leverage”.

Speaking of FanDuel, the analysts considered it an “efficient and prudent operator”, which has “leveraged its technology capabilities and array of betting offerings to drive efficient spend” while retaining >40% sports-betting market share. 

• “Therefore, the company has been less reliant on new customer growth by driving value from its existing, loyal customer base compared to the industry,” they added. 

• “DraftKings is now reaching that inflection point.”

Sale: Separately, DraftKings said in a SEC filing late last week that co-founder and current president Matt Kalish has undertaken to sell $18.7m worth of shares to an undisclosed buyer via a forward-sale contract.

More analyst takes

Caesars: Investors may remain skeptical over Caesars Entertainment achieving its ambition of hitting $500m of digital EBITDA, but management is as “confident and convincing as ever”, suggested the team at CBRE.

• The analysts report that management is confident it won’t be impacted by the potentially elevated promo activity occasioned by new market entrants such as Fanatics and ESPN Bet.

• The team suggested Caesars CEO Tom Reeg had “piqued everyone’s interest” by suggesting on the Q2 earnings call that Cesars might “go back on the offensive” in terms of M&A next year.

• No specific targets have been identified but CBRE agreed with management that given Caesars track record “M&A would likely be a better use of capital than share repurchases or dividends”.

• Separately, having also met with management, the analysts at Wells Fargo said the company had dismissed the possibility of any M&A, which would involve issuing equity at the current “depressed” levels.

• Wells Fargo met Caesars after the news of the recent cyberattack and associated data breach broke. The team reported Caesars were suggesting the financial impact should be “modest and one-time”.

IGT: Meeting with management ahead of the news late last week that Apollo is mulling a bid of $5bn, the team at Truist said the genesis of the strategic review was a lack of market appreciation of the current structure of the business. Management admitted to analysts they now see “few significant incremental synergies” between lottery and gaming.

VICI: The REIT’s decision to pass on taking an ownership stake in the Bellagio is a “positive”, according to the team at JMP, as it would have “offered limited earnings benefit”. Yet, despite limited deal flow this year, the analysts said management continued to feel constructive about the deal pipeline. 

• “A hallmark of VICI’s investment strategy is the ability to partner with tenants to offer growth solutions, and we suspect deals will materialize in time,” the team added.

Regional gaming: The data for July and August was mixed across the various regions with revenue in July up 1% YoY while August was down 1%, but the JMP team suggested the gaming fundamentals “appear intact despite pressure on the consumer wallet”.

• The analysts added that comps will start to ease in Q4 as the backdrop “becomes more favorable” with the possibility of a return to growth towards the end of Q124.

Macau: Morgan Stanley has also taken a look at Macau and suggested the operators may be in a situation to reduce their total debt to below pre-pandemic levels within three years. The team suggested the pace of debt reduction would pick up in H2 this year.

• MS noted SJM has the most debt at 9x EBITDA while at the other end of the scale, Galaxy Entertainment Group is cash positive. 

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Career paths

The big move: 888 HOLDINGS appointed Sean Wilkins as CFO, effective February 1. Wilkins, who has 17 years of experience in CFO roles, most recently held the position at Superbet. Per Widersrtröm is scheduled to take over as CEO of 888 in mid-October.

• Working 9 to 5: Ahead of assuming control of the UK National Lottery license, Allwyn has appointed Andria Vidler as UK CEO. Kresimir Spajic has been confirmed as the new CEO of Betfred USA with Bryan Bennett having announced his departure. Michael Brady, current CEO at Eyas Gaming, has joined the recruitment-to-M&A advisory group Conexus as a NED. Aristocrat has hired Superna Kalle as chief strategy and content officer. Sportingtech has named Michael Jack as its new CTO.

Datalines

Massachusetts: DraftKings continued its dominance of its home market, garnering just shy of 53% of GGR in August or $12.4m of the total of $23.5m. It was followed by FanDuel (26%) and BetMGM (10.5%). 

• By handle, DraftKings led with 48% of the $315m total followed by FanDuel (33%) and BetMGM (10.5%). Fanatics gained 2.4% share of GGR.

New Jersey: iCasino led the way in the YoY comparison, up 18% to $155.3m but the sequential figure was almost flat. OSB was up 52% YoY to $96m on handle that rose 33% to $726m. Land-based casino GGR of $280m was up 2.3% YoY.

Illinois: DraftKings gained ground on FanDuel in August with a 67% rise in OSB GGR to $18.8m or 31% share vs. FanDuel’s $24.7m or 41% share. Ahead of the Fanatics takeover, PointsBet lost ground with revenues down 21% YoY to $3.5m or under 6% share.

Newslines

EveryMatrix will supply its CasinoEngine platform and cross-product bonus engine technology to the Matchbook.

MLB’s owners will vote on whether the Oakland A’s can move to Las Vegas during their meetings in mid-November, according to the LVRJ.

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