Betfair confirms £5m Blue Square acquisition
London-listed operator completes buyout of loss-making sportsbook's brand name and customer database.
Betfair has acquired certain assets of online sportsbook operator Blue Square Bet from Rank Group, including its brand and customer database, for £5m.
The deal will see Betfair acquire around 120,000 sports betting and gaming customers, while also obtaining all Blue Square brand assets. No technology or personnel are included in the deal.
A spokesman for Betfair confirmed the acquisition this morning, with a statement describing the deal as consistent with the operator’s “strategy of growing its sportsbook and gaming operations alongside its core exchange product”.
Blue Square, which was acquired by Rank Group in 2003, saw losses of £4.8m for the six months ended 31 December 2012 following an increase in marketing spend. Its sports betting revenues fell by 23.4% to £3.6m in the period and were overtaken by egaming income, which rose to £4m.
However the addition of Blue Square’s significant player database is likely to provide a useful leg-up for Betfair’s newly launched fixed-odds sportsbook product, as well as its online gaming offering.
In third quarter numbers announced in March, Betfair revealed that its sports revenue rose by 39% to £7.5m compared to £5.4m in Q3 2012, largely due to strong margins following favourable football results.
The deal, first revealed by eGaming Review last month, is the latest move by CEO Breon Corcoran to sharpen Betfair’s focus in regulated markets, having already withdrawn from a number of grey markets including Germany, Greece and Cyprus in recent months.
The former Paddy Power COO has made a host of changes to the business since his arrival last August including implementing a scheme that aims to cut costs by £20m a year.