Gamenet becomes Italian retail market leader with GoldBet acquisition

Italian operator Gamenet has acquired local rival GoldBet for €265m, in a transaction that creates the largest retail operator in the market.

The €265m purchase price came in at around 6x GoldBet’s 2017 EBITDA of €40m, when accounting for synergies.

Gamenet said it would boast 1,700 points-of-sale after the deal, with GoldBet already operating 990 land-based betting shops.

GoldBet also has a licence for online and mobile betting, meaning the combined firm will account for 21% of the retail sports betting market, 7% online and 33% of virtual betting.

Gamenet projected cost synergies of €12m to €18m a year and significant opportunities to grow revenues, particularly in virtual betting.

Gamenet CEO Guglielmo Angelozzi said: “Through this strategic acquisition, the Gamenet Group performs a significant dimensional leap, which allows us to assume a position of leadership in the gaming sector in Italy, in particular in sports betting.”

Angelozzi said GoldBet’s online assets would diversify the group’s business mix and significantly improve profitability.

Gamenet itself is a listed company, with around 750 shops and circa 3% market share online.

Regulus Partners said the deal created a “credible number four” in the online betting market, behind bet365, SKS365 and GVC, albeit one “still stuck in the mid-tier of a stubbornly fragmented market”.

The massive retail estate of the group could also help it take online market share following the introduction of the blanket advertising ban.