Entain has successfully completed the acquisition of the Dutch operator BetCity from Sports Entertainment Media for a total price tag of €450 million (£398.1m/$484.2m).
According to IGB (IGamingBusiness) The purchase of BetCity by Entain grants the company access to the Dutch-regulated market, where BetCity has proved itself as a market leader with a 20% market share in Q4 of 2021. BetCity was one of the initial 10 licensees when the market launched on October 1, 2021.
Entain's existing brands could not launch in the Netherlands as part of the initial batch of licensees due to the country's "cooling-off" time for operators that had accepted Dutch customers before the market opening.
Although this period has ended, Entain had initially expected its legacy brands to be granted licenses in 2022, but this has yet to occur.
Entain chief executive Jette Nygaar-Andersen said:
We are satisfied to have completed the acquisition of BetCity. The mixture of BetCity’s local expertise and strong brand, alongside Entain’s global scale and market-leading platform, provides customers with an enriched and broader offering of engaging products, fresh content, and new experiences.
This transaction further underpins our growth strategy of operating in and expanding into attractive regulated markets. We look forward to working with (co-founder and chief executive) Melvin Bostelaar and the BetCity group as we execute the significant opportunities in the Dutch market.
The deal between Entain and BetCity has been closed, and Entain will pay an initial payment of €300m. A balancing amount will be made "once BetCity's financial performance for 2022 is confirmed", and an additional contingent payment of 10 times BetCity's 2023 EBITDA will be made in early 2024. A final payment of €50m will be made "on delivery of synergies and prosperous migration to the Entain platform." The total cost of the purchase is expected to be €450m, but it could reach as high as €850m depending on performance. The deal was negotiated with the help of a corporate advisory specialist, Partis.
Entain plc (LSE: ENT) is a leading sports betting and gaming firm that operates both online and in the retail sector. With operations in 31 regulated or regulating territories, the company has over 25,000 employees across 20 offices on five continents. The company is based in the UK and rebranded from GVC Holdings in December 2020 to reflect its ambition to become a world leader in sports betting and gaming recreation.
The company owns a diverse portfolio of established brands, including bwin, Coral, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Ladbrokes, Neds International, and Sportingbet for sports brands and Foxy Bingo, Gala, Gioco Digitale, partypoker, and PartyCasino for games brands. It also owns proprietary technology across all of its core product verticals and provides services to third-party customers on a B2B basis. In the US, the company operates BetMGM, a joint venture with MGM Resorts, which capitalizes on the opportunities presented by regulating sports betting and gaming.
Entain has overgrown in recent years through organic growth and M&A, becoming one of the world's largest listed sports betting and gaming groups. In 2018, the company completed the acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral Group PLC, its first move into retail operations, two years after purchasing the international online operator bwin.party digital entertainment plc, in 2016. Entain is a member of FTSE4Good and the DJSI, ESG indices which identify companies that meet globally identified corporate commitment standards.
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