NORTH AMERICA
Detroit Faces Three-Week Shutdown Loss
US - Bally’s Corporation acquires
Bet.Works Bally's Corporation, previously Twin River Holdings, is buying
Bet.Works, a US-based, sports betting platform provider to operators in New Jersey, Iowa, Indiana and Colorado, for US$125m, subject to adjustment. Bally's is aiming to 'become the premier, full-service, vertically integrated sports betting and iGaming company in the US with physical casinos and online gaming solutions united under a single, preeminent brand, thus enabling it to launch its B2B2C business model.'
The
Bet.Works acquisition represents the latest step in Bally's long-term growth, development and unification strategy. Over the past two years, Bally's has engaged in strategic and opportunistic expansion of its gaming and entertainment properties, which will include 14 casinos across 10 states once all pending transactions are completed. In addition, Bally's recently acquired its iconic brand, which is synonymous with U.S. gaming and entertainment, and commensurate with the premier properties and amenities that define the company's portfolio.
The
Bet.Works acquisition, which complements these initiatives, will provide Bally's with a suite of advanced omni-channel products, platforms, software and content solutions that will enable it to deliver sports betting and iGaming offerings to customers on a national scale. According to investment research by major Wall Street analysts and management estimates, the U.S. sports betting and iGaming market is expected to grow to $12bn by 2025 and reach $50 billion at maturity. Bally's estimates that the US sports betting and iGaming market will reach $2.6bn this year.
"This is the next step in our Company's evolution," said Soo Kim, Chairman of Bally's Corporation's Board of Directors. "By combining our expanding national footprint of casinos, the recently acquired Bally's brand, and
Bet.Works' proprietary technology stack, we have evolved in just a few short years from a regional casino operator into the first US gaming company committed to serving our customers with an omni-channel approach, combining physical properties with an online experience."
Following the acquisition, Bally's will form two distinct operating divisions: "Bally's Casinos," which will be comprised of Bally's physical gaming and entertainment properties, and "Bally's Interactive," which will include new and existing contracts for sports betting and iGaming, including all of
Bet.Works' sports betting operations.
George Papanier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bally's Corporation, commented, "We are very excited to welcome
Bet.Works to the Bally's family. Owning
Bet.Works' superior technology platform will not only give Bally's a long-term margin advantage online, but, more importantly, will also allow us to evolve our interactive product suite to go where sports betting and iGaming customers are headed quickly.”
P16 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
Despite a capacity limit, Detroit casinos earned US$101.4m in October. Based on that figure, a three-week shutdown could cost casinos $67m in lost revenue
Michigan's commercial casinos all must close for three weeks, after the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued an emergency order on November 15. With COVID- 19 cases at an all-time high in the state, the emergency order forces the casinos to close from November 18 to December 8.
Te state’s commercial casinos, all located in Detroit, include the MGM Grand, MotorCity Casino Hotel, and Greektown Casino-Hotel. Te three casinos stand to lose $67 million in revenue during the three-week shutdown, based on projections from
MichiganSharp.com.
Despite a 15 per cent capacity limitation, Detroit casinos earned US$101.4m in revenue in October. Based on that figure, the three-week shutdown projects to $67m in lost revenue for Michigan's commercial casinos.
Tat projection includes $5m in lost sports betting revenue, based on $7.6m in October earnings from sportsbooks at the three Detroit casinos. Michigan regulators were hopeful for a November launch of statewide online sports betting, but recent snags in the regulation process could push the launch back to December, or even early 2021.
Online sports betting and casinos continue to boom in states like New Jersey and
US
Caesars Entertainment and William Hill have announced that, at the shareholder meetings, the William Hill shareholders approved the recommended 272p cash offer from Caesars by the requisite majorities, subject to the satisfaction of the remaining outstanding regulatory conditions and final approval of the English Court.
Each of the resolutions were approved by the requisite majority of shareholders, with over 86 per cent of the votes cast at the meetings in favour of the transaction.
Te parties are making progress towards obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals required to close the transaction and Caesars is now aiming to complete the acquisition in March 2021.
Pennsylvania. Both states realised record revenue figures for both mobile sports betting and casinos this summer. Mobile wagering accounts for more than 80 per cent of overall sports betting revenue in both states.
If that 80 per cent metric is applied to the three Detroit casinos, Michigan's commercial retail sportsbooks project to miss out on $30m in monthly revenue during the fall sports season, including $2.5m in lost tax revenue for Michigan. “Te sports betting boom across the US comes from the popularity of mobile wagering," said Geoff Fisk, analyst for MichiganSharp. "We likely won't see any states where retail sportsbook revenue comes anywhere close to what mobile wagering can produce."
New Jersey went over $200m in 2020 mobile sports betting revenue in September, while Pennsylvania topped $87m.
MichiganSharp.com projects that online casinos and sports betting could bring in $650m in annual revenue for Michigan's commercial and tribal casinos. Tat projection includes $250m from online casinos, producing an additional $5m in monthly tax revenue.
"Te pandemic can't shut down online gaming platforms," Fisk said. "Mobile gaming is vital to the survival of the retail casino industry."
US Tekkorp Digital Acquisition launches $250m SPAC
Tekkorp Digital Acquisition Corp (TDAC) has announced its $250m initial public offering on the Nasdaq 'to develop its mission to unlock the potential of fast- growing digital sports, media, entertainment and gaming companies by bringing speed and certainty to the process of becoming public'.
Leading the company’s $1bn-plus acquisition plans are Matt Davey, CEO, and Robin Chhabra, President, backed up by a board of directors which features former Caesars’ CEO Tony Rodio, Sean Ryan from Facebook, and Atlantic City veteran Morris Bailey.
Te management team intends to start an aggressive acquisition drive to identify the sector’s companies whose transformation into public entities will foster growth impact.
Matt Davey, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “An acquisition by a blank check company with a management team that is well-known to, and respected by, technology company founders, their current third-party investors, their management teams and the public markets, we believe, can provide a more transparent and efficient mechanism to bring a private technology company to the public markets. We intend to focus our target-sourcing efforts on assessing companies that we believe would benefit significantly from being publicly-traded."
Robin Chhabra, President, added: “We look forward to providing attractive investment opportunities to our shareholders which capitalise on trends that fundamentally reshape the way we consume sports, media, gaming and entertainment.”
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