Sportech readies sale of Football Pools business
Operator considers offloading Football Pools for a sum in excess of £100m in order to focus on its growing US business
Sportech is considering a £100m sale of its Football Pools business in order to focus on its expanding US operations, eGaming Review understands.
Sources close to the situation confirmed reports in The Times the firm was ready to dispose of the Football Pools at the right price and had recently rejected an unsolicited £70m-£75m offer.
Sportech is increasingly focused on its growing operations in the US where it operates a number of land-based horserace wagering venues, including its flagship Winners venue in Connecticut, and its MyWinners.com real-money wagering site.
The firm also powers the ResortsCasino.com RMG site in New Jersey through its SNG Interactive joint venture with NYX Gaming and would use the cash injection from offloading the pools business to help fund expansion as more states move towards regulating egaming.
Sportech is thought to be holding out for an offer in excess of £100m, with the Football Pools business generating revenues of £38m and EBITDA of £16.6m last year.
But while the Football Pools is a cash cow, it has been in decline in recent years and Sportech said the strategy for the business had been to “stabilise then grow revenues” through “improved customer retention”.
Part of the modernisation process included launching the footballpools.com on NYX Gaming’s Open Platform System, which helped attract 23,000 new players last year, taking the total number of users to 300,000 plus.
Sportech declined to comment on this story.