Stars Group about to buy Sky Bet

An announcement of the deal is expected to be released on Monday, according to industry insiders.

The group behind PokerStars [3] is getting closer to become the major shareholder of UK gambling company in a £2.6bn deal.

Sky Bet is currently majority-owned by CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm which is the ex-owner of the Formula One racing. CVC owns 71% of the shares from 2015 where they acquired their stake in a deal, valuing about £800m. Another 20% belongs to Sky plc and the rest is controlled by Sky Bet's management.

Sky Bet's portfolio consists of Sky Vegas, Sky Casino, Sky Bingo and the online odds comparison site Oddschecker. The company is the biggest sponsor of three division of the Football League in the UK. The number of their employees is around 1,200. They saw a 38% increase in earnings before taxes in 2017 to £146m. They also increased the number of their customers from 1.5m to 2.6m in just two years.

[4]

The deal would diversify Stars Group's portfolio, which is a clear goal for the company, that used to focus exclusively on poker before. They already offer online sports betting and casino games and clearly try to become a key player in this field as well. Back in March they raised their stake up to 80% in CrownBet Holdings Pty Limited and acquired William Hill Australia Holdings Pty Ltd. creating a leader in the Australian online sports betting market.

In the meantime, PokerStars' lead is decreasing on the online poker market, with rivals like Partypoker [5] growing bigger and bigger, thanks to their extreme promotions, like the upcoming $40,000,000 POWERFEST [6].

They also go big in the live tournament scene, where their Live MILLIONS [7] tournament series is one of the most popular festivals. Other competitors are also climbing the ladder of the online poker market, attracting more and more players in form of several offers. Natural8 [8], which focuses on the Asian market, has just announced its $200,000 promotion [9] for their players.

[6]

The gambling industry has been rapidly changing thanks to recent multi-billion deals, including a £4bn merger of Ladbrokes Coral and GVC.