Scientific Games sells OpenBet to Endeavor
The top line
- Endeavor will pay $1.2bn for the OpenBet sports-betting backend supply business.
- The deal consists of $1bn in cash and $200m in Endeavor stock
- The price represents c.10x FY21 revenues and an estimated 34x assumed FY21 EBITDA of ~$35m.
- U.S.-listed sports and entertainment group Endeavor owns data and streaming business IMG Arena as well UFC.
- The deal expected to close in second quarter 2022.
Ari up: The Ari Emanuel-led Endeavor is perhaps the surprise winner in the race for the OpenBet business, despite its existing footprint in sports-betting via the IMG Arena data offering. While the OpenBet technology is widely reckoned to be ‘creaking’ it does comes with an impressive list of clients attached including Entain (Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM), Flutter (FanDuel, Sky Bet, Paddy Power), DraftKings, William Hill and many more.
Chain and able: More than just technology, OpenBet also includes the recently bought Sportscast business which produces BetBuilder products as well as the Don Best sports data business. Endeavor said in combination with the IMG Arena business it would create a “unique end-to-end solution” from data and streaming through to mobile-betting technology. Emanuel said the combination of OpenBet and IMG Arena would “enable us to expand our footprint across the entire sports-betting value chain.”
History lessons: Looking at the corporate paper trail for OpenBet, the analysts at Regulus point out the company was bought by PE house Vitruvian in 2011 for £208m before being sold to NYX in 2016 for £270m and then NYX itself being bought by Scientific Games for £490m in 2018. Suggesting there are few cost synergies to be had, Regulus says Endeavor is placing a “very big bet on US-facing content and platform integration.”
“In the short-term, OpenBet’s clients are likely to be relieved the business has been bought by a group that does not create any immediate conflicts,” the Regulus team added. “However, if Endeavor’s plan is to use the platform to drive more and higher value sports content sales then a conflict might emerge.”
The Weight: The deal marks another step in Scientific Games transformation into a gaming-only supplier across land-based and digital with the $1m in cash proceeds going towards the paying off some of the ~$9bn in debt. Last week, the company also released further details of its lottery business which it is also hoping to offload. A recent report suggests a float in Australia is now the favored option with the company targeting a $5bn listing.
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