Paddy Power's Sportsbet buy could cost €140m

p>Paddy Power could end up paying €140m to buy out the rest of Australian firm Sportsbet.

As reported on EGRmagazine.com, Paddy Power paid an initial €27.2m for its initial 51% stake in Sportsbet, the company’s first foray into the Australian market.

However under an earn out arrangement negotiated by Paddy Power chief executive Patrick Kennedy, the Irish bookmaker may have to pay the equivalent of up to seven times the Australian company’s earnings over a three-year period to buy the remaining 49% stake, reports the Irish Independent.

However if Sportsbet’s profits fall below current levels the Irish bookmaker will pick up the remainder of the Northern Territory-licensed operator for a far smaller sum.

Paddy Power has also drawn an official complaint from Australian gambling giant Tabcorp to the gambling regulator in the Australian state of Victoria, by introducing a touch screen betting terminal into a vast sports pub in Melbourne. Tabcorp sees the terminals as breaching the terms of its state-licensed totaliser monopoly in Victoria.

Paddy Power is looking to trial around 30 of the new terminals in bars and hotels in Victoria, but may be forced to rethink after the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation wrote to the Irish bookmaker asking it to desist.

As reported on EGRmagazine.com, Paddy Power took over Oz bookmaker International All Sports recently through its acquisition of IAS shareholder Sportsbet, giving it control of two of the five online operators in Australia. Rival Australian online bookie Centrebet pledged to “continue to look for acquisitions” after it was effectively forced to end its interest in IAS.