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ONLINE NEWS


Betty Power Begins L


eading sports betting operators Paddy Power and Betfair have agreed a merger that will create one of the largest online gaming operators in the world, with combined annual revenues of more than £1.1bn and a joint value of around £6bn. The new company would have an online market share of 16% in the


UK, above the 14% of the merged Ladbrokes-Coral group as well as William Hill and Bet365. The two companies’ boards will merge, with Betfair CEO Breon Corcoran becoming chief executive of the combined group while Paddy Power boss Andy McCue becomes chief operating officer. Paddy Power investors will own 52% of the combined business, with Betfair shareholders owning the remaining 48%.


Following the news, Betfair’s share price rose 20.4%, while Paddy Power’s spiked by 18.5%. Breon Corcoran told the Reuters news agency: “We fundamentally believe this industry is about scale. By putting together


two distinct but phenomenally strong brands we’ll have a market-leading position in the UK, Ireland, Australia and in the United States. Jonathan Buxton, Partner and Head of Consumer at Cavendish Corporate Finance, said: “Consolidation is one way the gambling industry is trying to cope with the significant pressures it is under. Paddy Power’s merger with Betfair is the latest in a wave of consolidation sweeping the gambling industry. Tighter overheads is one key factor behind the M&A drive, but increasing regulation is too. Despite the gambling industry contributing over £2 billion annually to UK GDP, it has never been viewed very favourably by Parliament and regulatory bodies have been keen to clamp down partly because many big bookmakers have located themselves offshore to reduce their tax burden. Securing economies of scale and cost savings through consolidation is one way the industry is trying to cope with the significant pressures it is under. Odds are high that the formation of ‘Betty Power’ won’t be the last sizeable deal in the sector.”


SkillOnNet deal for edict


O


nline casino provider SkillOnNet has added Merkur slot games from the


Gauselmann Group after signing a deal with Gauselmann’s specialist software developer edict egaming. Andy Andrew, commercial games


director at SkillOnNet, said: “This Merkur slots collection will complement our already large and diverse range of famous slot games especially in Germany where they are among some of the biggest earners in the business.”


Gaming Innovation Group signs up to Genii


bwin.party satisfied by GVC proposal B


win.party has revealed that following talks with GVC Holdings over a proposed takeover bid, the online gaming operator said it is satisfied with “key aspects”


of the latest offer. GVC has put forward a number of bids to take


ownership of bwin.party, with the latest offer of 122.5- G


pence-pershare valuing the operator at approximately £1.1 billion (1.5 billion Euro/$1.7 billion). GVC said it had made “significant progress” with its ongoing effort to acquire bwin.party, stating that it expects to make a formal offer in the near future. Although bwin.party responded to the comments by stating its recommendation of an earlier offer of approximately £898.3 million from rival operator 888 was unchanged, the firm has spoken positively about its latest discussion with GVC and said that it will give a further update in early September. In a statement, bwin.party said: “Whilst there can be


no certainty that an offer will be made by GVC for bwin.party, 888 has been informed of this development and, if appropriate, will be given due notice in the event that bwin.party proposes to recommend an offer from GVC.”


94 SEPTEMBER 2015


aming Innovation Group (GIG) has become the latest company to enter into a


content partnership with Genii. Under the agreement, Genii will provide its portfolio of over 130 casino games to the Guts.com platform and platform technology provider iGaming Cloud - both of which are operated by GIG. The deal will cover a host of


desktop and mobile titles, such as Genii’s new Spin 16 range that was launched to the market in May. Nick Barr, sales director at Genii, said: “The reaction to Spin 16 and Genii’s entire content portfolio has been incredible and we’ve done a number of deals in a short space of time. GIG are the ideal partner for us as they will host our games on Guts.com, as well as offering them to their clients via their platform.”


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