may find the quickest route towards a stated ambition of moving into the sports-betting arena through acquisition, with European-facing betting and gaming operator Expekt providing the likeliest opportunity, as speculation suggests that it has already instructed lawyers in London to seek buyers.
GigaMedia is in pole position to buy European-facing sports betting and gaming operator Expekt in a deal which could be worth up to €300m, GamblingCompliance has learned.
According to industry sources, lawyers in London have been instructed to find a buyer for the Malta-licensed Expekt.
GigaMedia is the owner of the Everest poker and casino brand which just this week released a results statement which said that it was looking to “acquire or partner with a sports-betting firm”. A company insider said GigaMedia was looking at all options.
European lottery and gaming firms Intralot and Lottomatica were also touted as possible buyers by industry insiders.
Expekt operates across sports betting across all the major European markets, with a particular focus on Germany, where it has a small land-based chain of bookmakers, and Scandinavia. It also operates a poker and casino operation on the Playtech network and runs bingo via Parlay Entertainment.
One analyst suggested the possible price tag would be too rich for many possible bidders.
“There are not many people who could afford it. I would have thought Ladbrokes and Paddy Power would be the most likely UK and Ireland buyers. Party would love to buy it, but they haven’t got the money,” they said.
Another industry insider suggested that the same could be said for Bwin and Unibet, neither of which is overloaded with cash at present. He added that there was also the question of player duplications.
He added: “I’m surprised at the price. But I’m not surprised they want to sell. They simply don’t have the ability to expand.”
Expekt was formed in 1999 by Christian Haupt and Conny Gesar. It has links to the gaming technology firm Tain AG, which was the owner of Tain Poker before that was subsumed by Tribeca Tables. Tribeca was subsequently sold on to Playtech.
According to GigaMedia’s first quarter results published this week, its poker and casino business saw revenues rise 46 percent year on year and 12 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2007 to $38m. Poker revenues rose to $29.7m, up 11 percent on the previous quarter and 56 percent on the previous year. The company said it had over 200,000 poker customers, a 14 percent increase on last year’s numbers.
The company added that “strong cross-marketing” of its casino product to its poker player base had helped casino revenues rise 17 percent on the previous quarter to $8.6m.
Poker and casino operations contributed to GigaMedia’s total first quarter revenues of $54.6m, a 51 percent rise.
A GigaMedia and Expekt tie-up would certainly make sense. The addition of a sports-betting operation would transform GigaMedia to a full service online betting and gaming operator, challenging the very biggest European-based operators. To add to its offering, GigaMedia also offers play-for-free Asian games in China, Taiwan, and Japan.
GigaMedia presently has a market cap just under $1bn.
Speaking at the announcement of the company’s fourth-quarter results last year, CEO Arthur Wang said that the firm previously believed that regulations for sports betting were “too restrictive for us to get involved”.
He added: “As a result, we have been leaving a lot of money on the table. The good news is that in the last year, we have seen several moves towards licensing and liberalisation in certain of our target markets and we have concluded that now is a good time for us to enter.”
Approached yesterday, London-based law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner declined to comment on the speculation.
One company showed great interest (MC Holdings).
GigaMedia is in pole position to buy European-facing sports betting and gaming operator Expekt in a deal which could be worth up to €300m, GamblingCompliance has learned.
According to industry sources, lawyers in London have been instructed to find a buyer for the Malta-licensed Expekt.
GigaMedia is the owner of the Everest poker and casino brand which just this week released a results statement which said that it was looking to “acquire or partner with a sports-betting firm”. A company insider said GigaMedia was looking at all options.
European lottery and gaming firms Intralot and Lottomatica were also touted as possible buyers by industry insiders.
Expekt operates across sports betting across all the major European markets, with a particular focus on Germany, where it has a small land-based chain of bookmakers, and Scandinavia. It also operates a poker and casino operation on the Playtech network and runs bingo via Parlay Entertainment.
One analyst suggested the possible price tag would be too rich for many possible bidders.
“There are not many people who could afford it. I would have thought Ladbrokes and Paddy Power would be the most likely UK and Ireland buyers. Party would love to buy it, but they haven’t got the money,” they said.
Another industry insider suggested that the same could be said for Bwin and Unibet, neither of which is overloaded with cash at present. He added that there was also the question of player duplications.
He added: “I’m surprised at the price. But I’m not surprised they want to sell. They simply don’t have the ability to expand.”
Expekt was formed in 1999 by Christian Haupt and Conny Gesar. It has links to the gaming technology firm Tain AG, which was the owner of Tain Poker before that was subsumed by Tribeca Tables. Tribeca was subsequently sold on to Playtech.
According to GigaMedia’s first quarter results published this week, its poker and casino business saw revenues rise 46 percent year on year and 12 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2007 to $38m. Poker revenues rose to $29.7m, up 11 percent on the previous quarter and 56 percent on the previous year. The company said it had over 200,000 poker customers, a 14 percent increase on last year’s numbers.
The company added that “strong cross-marketing” of its casino product to its poker player base had helped casino revenues rise 17 percent on the previous quarter to $8.6m.
Poker and casino operations contributed to GigaMedia’s total first quarter revenues of $54.6m, a 51 percent rise.
A GigaMedia and Expekt tie-up would certainly make sense. The addition of a sports-betting operation would transform GigaMedia to a full service online betting and gaming operator, challenging the very biggest European-based operators. To add to its offering, GigaMedia also offers play-for-free Asian games in China, Taiwan, and Japan.
GigaMedia presently has a market cap just under $1bn.
Speaking at the announcement of the company’s fourth-quarter results last year, CEO Arthur Wang said that the firm previously believed that regulations for sports betting were “too restrictive for us to get involved”.
He added: “As a result, we have been leaving a lot of money on the table. The good news is that in the last year, we have seen several moves towards licensing and liberalisation in certain of our target markets and we have concluded that now is a good time for us to enter.”
Approached yesterday, London-based law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner declined to comment on the speculation.
One company showed great interest (MC Holdings).