Welcome to the latest Weekend Edition. When CNBC broke the news that DraftKings had placed a $22.4bn bid for Entain, it came as many from the European sector were heading to Barcelona for the first major event in over 18 months. Attendees included Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Anderson who, with a sublime piece of timing, was giving the keynote. She took no questions but the discussion and gossip within the hall was all about the sector’s center of gravity having shifted significantly. The relaxation of the rules on flying to the U.S. have come too late for many European getting to G2E in person - but they will be there in spirit. But we start with what can only be described as shenanigans at Betsson.

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Betsson boardroom rupture

Blood on the carpet: A week after Betsson was announced that CEO Pontus Lindwall had “completed his assignment” and that the company had embarked on a search for his replacement, it announced yesterday the resignation of chairman Patrick Svensk with immediate effect after the company’s major shareholders said they “no longer had confidence” in him. 

That’s disappointing: The statement went on to say that it was the manner of how Svensk handled Lindwall’s “dismissal” that caused the rupture. Svensk had been on Betsson’s board for 17 years with the last four years as chairman. The company allowed him a valedictory comment in the press release where he said “very sad, and I am sorry that I have disappointed our major owners.”

Bad timing: Betsson has recently been the subject of speculation that it could be the subject of a bid from sports apparel company Fanatics which is reportedly sifting its options with regard to how it can enter the sports-betting sector. How much this kind of boardroom kerfuffle is a hindrance in such circumstances is hard to gauge, as is the question of whether it is at all connected.

SBC Summit Barcelona day 2

Chinese whisper: Fresh from his appearance ringing the bell on the NYSE last week when Sportradar floated, CEO and founder Carsten Coerl provided SBC’s day two keynote on the subject of digital transformation. He laid out how he believes aspects of AI and other new technologies would transform the way we consume sport and the way sports-betting is managed. “We are 10 years behind the finance industry,” he told the audience. One area that is sure to be the subject of more debate is the application of VR - and WE+M had its first taste when walking the floor yesterday with a viewing of a VR virtuals game from Mark Israney’s new business, Virtually Sports. Head spinning. Literally.

Good to be back: Many attendees commented on how good it felt to be back at a large-scale conference and expo for the first time in over 18 months. The ending of the travel restrictions for Europeans travelling to the U.S. have come too late for G2E, but normality is returning. Indeed, the events calendar is getting back into full swing and Wagers.com Earnings+More will be there reporting on what is being said both on and off the stages.

DraftKings and Entain further reading

• Scott Longley from Wagers.com Earnings+More offers his opinion on this week’s big news. Via LinkedIn

• Bloomberg: DraftKings’ hand “isn’t as strong as it looks.”

• The Times: ‘The odds are long for DraftKings.’

Bally’s Corporation analyst update

Double bubble: Having completed the Gamesys acquisition this week, Trusit have run the rule over the newly augmented Bally’s Corporation and they like what they see. They note that the deal has effectively doubled the size of the business and “gives them sizeable interactive capabilities that will help fuel the U.S. opportunity.” They see pro-forma EBITDAR rising by between 90-130% to $722m-$784m in 2022.

Las Vegas Sands analyst update

Faith, hope and clarity: The analysts at Deutsche Bank have taken a look at the prospects for Las Vegas Sands and like what they see, despite the obvious difficulties encountered when it comes to predicting the future in Macau. “We recognize incremental investment into the Macau-centric names at this time of the calendar year and with this level of uncertainty is challenging,” they suggest.

But while LVS doesn’t have the benefit of the “fundamental US recovery” or “in vogue revenue multiple, ‘pie in the sky’ names”, DB does believe that “clarity on policy, which is expected by year end, and progress towards normalization of fundamentals, something that has been incredibly challenging to handicap, will serve as unique positive catalysts for the group.”

Sportsbet analyst reaction

Learning your scales: Wells Fargo responded positively to Sportsbet’s investor day earlier this week saying recent “market share gains illustrate the importance of scale, reinforcing our view that in sports betting and iGaming (particularly in the US), bigger is better.” Flexibility to invest in product and tech, spend more in marketing and generosity/promo campaigns had resulted in higher revenues that caused the “cycle to repeat/gain momentum,” said the analysts. 

Playtech analyst reaction 

Heat injection: Playtech’s online focus in Italy and the country's gradual reopening, along with its US and Latin America focus got the nod of approval from the team at Peel Hunt, which also picked on the €300m unrealized gains the group has recorded thanks to the structure of its B2B deals with Caliente in Mexico and WPlay in Colombia. “While this of course does not yet translate into cash, it is pleasing to see confirmation of the value being created in this important part of the group,” the analysts added.    

Sector watch - VPN provision

Get Kape: Mentioned on the German panel session yesterday at the SBC Summit was the fact that for any German online casino consumers hoping to get around the country’s onerous regulations and play with a site elsewhere in Europe, “all it would take would be to sign up to a VPN.” Which brings us on to what Teddy Sagi, ex-magus at Playtech (OK, founder), has been up to recently with his other ventures. In particular, with a company called Kape.

Wear Kape: Kape started life as an Israeli-based adtech firm called Crossrider. It then pivoted towards cyber-security and embarked on a series of acquisitions including a VPN provider called CyberGhost which it bought for $9m in 2017. It followed this with a deal for Zenmate (for $5m) in 2019 and then Private Internet Access for $95m a couple of months later.

Fly: It then floated in London in 2020, using some of the money raised to buy Webselenese for $149m in March, the publisher of two high-profile VPN recommendation websites. The biggest splash, though, came earlier this month when Kape laid out $936m for the biggest VPN provider of them all, ExpressVPN. Which means that in the realm of grey or black market betting and gaming activity  - or crypto or porn or gamers hoping to avoid the new rules in China - then a Teddy Sagi company will almost certainly be involved. Plus ça change, you might say.

M&A round-up

Total football: Ahead of the opening of the regulated market in the Netherlands, Better Collective has announced the acquisition of two Dutch-facing football sites, Soccernews.nl and Voetbalwedden.net for an upfront fee of €5.9m with up to €3.75m in earnouts. Better Collective said it expected its revenues from the Netherlands will exceed €3m in 2022. As part of its Netherlands plans BC has hired Joris Dekkers as managing director for Holland. Dekkers has experience in media and B2C igaming and worked as an external consultant with BC to prepare its entry into the market.  

Gaming in Holland: On the subject of the Netherlands, those hoping to keep track of what is being said and done by the Dutch authorities will be able to find out in person next week when Gaming in Holland puts on its latest one-day conference in Amsterdam next Tuesday, 28 September, just three days before the regulated market opens on Oct 1. Visit the conference website here.

A singular effort: Flutter Entertainment has snapped up igaming and sports betting B2B solutions provider Singular for an undisclosed sum.

Newslines

Time and a place: Full House Resorts has submitted a proposal for a new casino property in Terre Haute, Indiana. The $250m gaming and entertainment destination will be named American Place. The site is approximately one hour west of Indianapolis and within 100 miles of Champaign-Urbana and Decatur, Illinois, as well as Lafayette, Indiana.

Dead men don’t wear plaid: Nuvei has expanded its payout options for U.S. consumers by allowing players to make instant withdrawals via Plaid. The new Verified Withdrawals offering was developed as a by-product of Nuvei's Mazooma acquisition last August.

What we’re reading

Disnae count: Sports-betting and the Magic Kingdom. 

What we’re promoting

Reputation Matters: UK Gambling’s Future At Stake will be taking place on Tuesday 2 November at the Ironmongers’ Hall in the City of London. The event will consist of panels discussing the sector’s positioning as it enters a crucial phase of the Gambling Act review process. The event is headlined by John O’Reilly, Rank chief executive, who will provide the keynote. For ticket information, visit the EventBrite page.

Calendar

• 28 Sep: Gaming in Holland, Amsterdam

• 28 Sep - 1 Oct: iGB Live in Amsterdam

Contact us

• Scott Longley scott@clearconcisemedia.com

• Jake Pollard jake@openmediaservices.com