Greek acquisition reflects company confidence, says OpenBet CEO
Jeremey Thompson-Hill says investment in OpenBet Hellas is another move in the right direction
OpenBet’s acquisition of a Greece-based technology centre is a reflection of a company growing in confidence, its chief executive Jeremey Thompson-Hill (pictured) has said.
Yesterday the supplier announced it had acquired its previously outsourced services from Athens Technology Center, for an undisclosed fee and speaking to eGaming Review this morning, Thompson-Hill said the acquisition comes at a time when the company felt in need of additional in-house capability to support current and future growth plans.
“You only make an investment like this if you believe the company’s future is going to be strong because you are really making a commitment to grow,” Thompson-Hill said.
“No one has a crystal ball but when you believe you are in that position you need to make moves like this. For us it was a case of waiting until we really felt comfortable and confident that the fundamentals of the business were strong and the future trajectory with our customers and our own technology was strong enough,” he added.
The new tech team, which has been incorporated as OpenBet Hellas, has added 25% to OpenBet’s staff base, which Thompson-Hill said now stood at approximately 700.
The chief exec also said the addition of the new staff would have no impact on the company’s recently announced plan to hire an additional 50 employees to support its omni-channel product development.
Thompson-Hill said the company was focused on growing its business outside of the UK with operators in South America and mainland Europe highlighted among potential targets.
“I think the bigger prize is outside of the UK when it comes to large new customers because if you look at those in the UK that are the right fit for us we are lucky enough to work with most of them,” Thompson-Hill said.
“But there is a large market out there containing government-backed organisations and markets looking to re-regulate or formalise regulation and we are confident we will share in some of that business,” he added.
Thompson-Hill said OpenBet, whose financial year runs to June, had so far enjoyed a “great year” and the company was set to “over achieve” on its full-year ambitions.
Last month the company, which has a roster of clients including William Hill and Ladbrokes, reported record Grand National figures with the supplier having processed 45,000 bets-per-minute and 54 million account transactions, an increase of 24% on the previous year.