Year in review Q2: Resales, revamps and reflection
Q2 saw Caesars pondering what to do with Hills, Evolution scrapping new titles and Flutter in a reflective mood
Caesars’ acquisition and subsequent sell-off of William Hill assets dominated a large portion of Q2, with the top two stories of the month ascertaining what the American brand was going to do with the bookmaking giant’s UK arm.
After finalising its takeover of Hills in April, Caesars announced it was looking to offload the non-US business, and on 5 May EGR reported that it was looking to have a deal sorted by the end of Q2 2021.
Caesars CFO Bret Yunker said at the time: “We expect to launch the sale process by the end of this quarter, announce a buyer in late Q3 or early Q4 and have that closed within 12 months of today.”
Caesars CEO Tom Reeg added: “One of my pet peeves when I was an investor was companies who didn’t know what they were good at, and I can’t tell you we’re good at running a non-US digital business.”
Of course, 888 agreed to buy William Hill’s non-US business for £2.2bn in September of this year, with a deal likely to be completed by the end of Q2 2022.
888’s takeover of Hills was not all plain sailing however, as our second most read story of the month can attest to.
EGR’s Rob Simmons reported on 19 April that a protracted three-week hearing in court saw William Hill’s share price rise (from £2.69 on 1 January to £2.77), attracting glances from other interested parties.
The delay saw hedge funds circling with Melqart, Sand Grove and TIG all rumoured to have been interested.
Evolution to revitalise NetEnt portfolio with highly volatile Starburst slot
On 8 April, it was revealed that Evolution had scrapped a number of games slated for release by NetEnt in order to focus on “newer, fresher titles designed for a modern online audience”.
The Stockholm-listed firm claimed that it was refreshing its popular Starburst slot instead, which went live in the summer.
Evolution CPO Todd Haushalter said at the time: “We don’t want to make a game for existing Starburst players. We want to make a game for players that played it at one point, enjoyed it, but then left because they wanted to win big.”
Paddy Power High Court victory “source of significant embarrassment” for Flutter
On 7 June, Flutter Entertainment CEO Dan Taylor admitted historic responsible gambling and due diligence failings were a source of “significant embarrassment” for the company.
Taylor was speaking at the conclusion of a High Court case between Flutter and Amarjeet Singh Dhir, the former business associate of Antonio Parente, a problem gambler who allegedly stole £282,000 in order to fund his betting.
Judges in both the UK and Dubai ruled in Flutter’s favour, however Taylor was downbeat after the victory.
“Whilst we have always maintained that this claim was without merit, today’s ruling is no cause for celebration,” he said.
“Our business today is unrecognisable to what it was five years ago, but we know there is more we must do as an industry to ensure the most vulnerable are protected.”
Presiding over the case, Mr Justice Griffiths asserted that Paddy Power was aware Parente was gambling with “an unhealthy and unsustainable gambling addiction on an escalating and desperate scale”.