{"id":34025,"date":"2016-02-23T16:52:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T00:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=34025"},"modified":"2016-06-22T04:43:19","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T11:43:19","slug":"playtech-plans-800-million-shopping-spree-with-amaya-and-openbet-in-its-sights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/playtech-plans-800-million-shopping-spree-with-amaya-and-openbet-in-its-sights\/","title":{"rendered":"Playtech Plans \u00a3800 Million Shopping Spree, with Amaya and OpenBet in its Sights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Playtech
Playtech is looking for a major acquisition this year and Amaya could be in its sights. (Image: Playtech.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Online gaming giant Playtech<\/a> is sitting on a \u00a3800 million ($1.12 billion) war chest and it wants to go shopping. Following several near misses last year, the software provider is redoubling its efforts to land a major acquisition, and PokerStars\u2019 parent Amaya, says the UK\u2019s Sunday Times<\/i>, is high on its list.<\/p>\n

Playtech is known to be in the hunt for fellow software company OpenBet in a deal worth some \u00a3250 million ($351 million), and in competition with fellow suitors NYX Gaming, whose bid is backed financially by William Hill.<\/p>\n

OpenBet is to sports betting what Playtech is to online casinos, namely, far and away the market-leading platform provider to its sector. A combination of the two companies would be an irresistible force at a time when consolidation and scale are the watchwords of the industry.<\/p>\n

Both Deals a Longshot\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

But in an interview with Gambling Insider<\/i> this week, Warwick Bartlett, CEO of Global Betting and Gaming Consultants,\u00a0said he thought that both deals were unlikely propositions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be surprised if Playtech acquired either OpenBet or Amaya,\u201d he said. \u201cPlaytech has its own sports-betting software and has an integrated common-wallet strategy across all its products so there is a good chance they will pick up business over time when contracts elapse.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bartlett also emphasized that Playtech wants to diversify out of online gaming into financial services, which would be a far more logical consolidation plan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In April 2015, Playtech acquired\u00a0TradeFX, a\u00a0trading platform and payment services provider, for \u20ac208 million ($230 million). It also attempted to acquire trading platform Plus500 for \u00a3460 million ($644.7 million) and Forex broker Ava Trade for \u00a3105 million ($147 million), although both deals fell through.<\/p>\n

Playtech was also named as an early suitor of bwin.party, which was eventually sold to GVC Holdings for $1.6 billion.<\/p>\n

Designs on Amaya\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Amaya<\/a>, which is currently the subject of a takeover by its own CEO David Baazov, who wants to take the company private, could represent value to Playtech, said Bartlett, although he had several reservations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmaya has halved in value since being acquired from the founders,\u201d said Bartlett. \u201cPoker is in decline, but Amaya has a huge database of gamblers that could be useful to Playtech. However, the switch from software provider to operator is no easy task when so much resource, time and effort is used to generate software products.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Times<\/i>, Playtech has about \u00a3600 million of available cash, plus easy access to \u00a3200 million, which would be raised by selling its shares in Ladbrokes and Plus500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online gaming giant Playtech is sitting on a \u00a3800 million ($1.12 billion) war chest and it wants to go shopping. Following several near misses last year, the software provider is redoubling its efforts to land a major acquisition, and PokerStars\u2019 parent Amaya, says the UK\u2019s Sunday Times, is high on its list. Playtech is known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":34026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPlaytech Plans \u00a3800 Million Shopping Spree, with Amaya and OpenBet in its Sights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Playtech is sitting on \u00a3800 million ($1.12 billion) and it wants to go shopping. 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