SOURCE: Gaming Intelligence Group

Betbrokers plc, the UK’s first retail and wholesale brokerage and clearing house for the sports betting industry, has signed a US$6.8 million asset purchase agreement with Global Sports Edge International to acquire Winning Edge.

The acquisition will allow Betbrokers to satisfy the growing and largely unmet demand for information on U.S. sports and sports betting to its increasing UK and European customer base.

Whereas betting on sports is illegal in the majority of U.S. states, the provision of data and sports betting information, known as handicapping in the U.S., is legitimate and Winning Edge is a leading player in this growing market. In turn, Winning Edge will significantly benefit from Betbrokers’ offering of European sports information which will satisfy their market needs and enable them to sell this data along side their U.S. information sales.

In the last financial year, Winning Edge reported a turnover of US$5.601 million and a loss after tax of US$1.205 million. Approximately US$0.8 million of costs in the financial year were associated with U.S. regulatory costs associated with Winning Edge’s U.S. public listing. It is expected that the acquisition of Winning Edge will make a positive contribution to Betbrokers’ earnings as the business will no longer be subject to the regulatory costs of the U.S. public markets.

Wayne Lochner, Chairman and Chief Executive of Betbrokers, commented: “Acquiring Winning Edge’s business is a win-win for both parties. There is a huge amount of trading on U.S. sports going on outside America and Betbrokers is now well positioned to provide and sell data to this large market which currently struggles to source detailed information on U.S. sports. In addition, we are able to further empower our clients by offering longer trading hours and we are very pleased with the progress of the transaction.”

“Aside from being likely to prove earnings enhancing, the transaction advances our overall strategy of developing a global service in which the selling of data is a crucial part and we look forward to integrating this business into Betbrokers’ existing growing operations.”