888 agrees £15m BetBright acquisition
888 Holdings has agreed to purchase the Irish sports betting operator Betbright, including its proprietary platform, in a deal worth £15m (€17.5m/$19.9m).
The agreement will see the London-listed online gaming operator purchase certain assets of Dedsert Limited, Dedsert Ireland Limited and its affiliates, which together operate as BetBright.
888 has said the integration of the BetBright sportsbook into the group will give 888 complete ownership over its technology and product development across four key online betting verticals: casino, sports betting, poker and bingo.
The operator has also said that the acquisition will strengthen its long-term prospects in the global sports betting market, by allowing 888 to fully leverage its marketing and analytics capabilities, as well as scale and unique expertise.
888 did not state when it expects the deal to be completed, but noted it intends to begin the process of integrating BetBright's technology into the wider business as a soon as practically feasible.
Following this integration, 888 has said it will commence a phased and market-by-market roll out of the Betbright platform.
“This acquisition of a high-quality and scalable sportsbook is an exciting milestone for 888; it gives the group the missing piece in our proprietary product and technology portfolio and will enable 888 to own proprietary, end-to-end solutions across the four major online gaming verticals,” 888 CEO Itai Pazner said.
“With 888Sport becoming an increasingly established and popular worldwide sports betting destination, we believe it is the right time to take ownership of our full sports betting proposition.
“We are confident that this acquisition will increase the Group's long-term prospects and differentiation in the growing global sports betting market.”
Confirmation of the deal comes after 888 last month also struck an agreement to purchase JPJ Group's Mandalay operating business for £18m. 888 will acquire a range of bingo assets from Jet Management Group and Jet Media, including the Costa Bingo brand.
In addition, 888 signed off on a deal in December to purchase the remaining 53% interest in the All American Poker Network. 888 will buy the stake from Avenue OLG Entertainment, the private equity firm with which it established the joint venture in 2013.
Pazner, who was appointed as the new CEO at 888 in January following the exit of Itai Freiberger, added: “This is the third acquisition that the group has made in recent months and demonstrates the group's commitment to its strategy: to be a global leader in the online gaming market by driving organic growth across regulated markets, supported by value-accretive M&A.”
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