Playtech sets sights on Eastern Europe

Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer (pictured) told eGaming Review this morning the firm was plotting a sports betting-related acquisition and ramping up its presence in Eastern Europe ahead of a major omni-channel push in the region.

Speaking to eGaming Review shortly after announcing a 27% hike in Q1 online revenues, Weizer said the company’s omni-channel Playtech ONE solution, for which it plans to hire an additional 300 staff over the coming eight months, was a “top priority” and would include the addition of new licensees from the Eastern European region.

“The regulatory progress in Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and others represents a good opportunity for the company and, given the diversity of our footprint, makes us a natural partner for various operators in both retail and online to become their strategic partner going forward,” Weizer said.

“We believe a lot of those in these markets find they can’t cope with the live betting capabilities that they have internally, which is holding back their own internal development and Playtech is well positioned to help them grow and accelerate growth,” he added.

The Q1 growth was mostly due to a strong performance in the UK and a 28% rise in casino revenues from its Ladbrokes’ partnership and new deals with Sky Betting and Gaming, but it was also boosted by Playtech’s Mexico-facing Caliente partnership.

According to Weizer, the partnership with Caliente, for which it provides an online sportsbook and casino, had so far “exceeded expectations” and the firm is currently in discussions with additional potential partners both in Mexico and other parts of Latin America

“The relationship we have with Caliente is an entry point into Latin America for us,” Weizer said. “We do see other opportunities and we are pursuing those as we speak,” he added.

Sportsbook was also on the up and Weizer said new sportsbook clients, which the company had hoped to announce last year, will be confirmed over the coming months.

“We haven’t yet signed the contracts so anything could still happen,” Weizer said. “But considering the efforts we put into omni-channel and Playtech ONE, and given the conversations underway and projects underway we will definitely be in a position to announce new licensees in regulated markets in the coming quarters,” he added.

Weizer said he couldn’t rule out any of the soon-to-be announced licensees coming from the UK, either via new partners of the cross-selling of sports to its current tier one operators, although said the supplier was also focused on other markets.

The company still hopes to complete its entry into financial betting via the €458m acquisition of TradeFX by the end of May and announced that it had obtained its FCA licence in order to offer financial products.

Weizer said the addition of TradeFX would give current licensees the ability to diversify their product range with Ladbrokes and Caliente having already signed up to receive binary CFD betting products.

“We have just formed the plan and are going to execute against it in the coming quarters,” Weizer said. “We believe it provides a complementary vertical for our customers, particularly in the UK but not limited to the UK.

“While it is still too early to comment on that, I definitely believe we will be able to cross sell our binary options to our exsisting licensee portfolio,” he added.

The chief executive was clear that the acquisition of TradeFX would not be the last acquisition from Playtech with the firm still having approximately €500m left in the bank.

Weizer said another financial bolt-on to TradeFX was likely to take place by the start of Q3 while it was still looking at a sports betting-related play involving technology, client base and content.

Playtech said the acquisition of TradeFX would boost its regulated revenues to approximately 50%, having grown from 34% to 40% across Q1.