Party Gaming emerged leader in the race to acquire Victor Chandler
Party Gaming would use the $500 Million debt facility it secured at the end of June to finance the deal.
After recently acquiring Gamebookers for £69 Million, the move for Victor Chandler, which does not accept US bets, would confirm Party’s ambition of further reducing its dependency on US revenues.
When news of a possible acquisition of Victor Chandler first appeared in July, Glenn Cooper of Zeus Capital, the financial advisers to Victor Chandler, “One must notice the size of the (Victor Chandler) business, the fact that it is all non-US bets and has strong links in Asia, which is an area everyone recognises as one of great potential. When you put all those factors together and look at the companies that want to reduce their dependency on the US market, those are the ones we would have expected to hear from.”
The Asian market in particular would present strong growth opportunities for Party. However, some industry sources said they were unsure as to how much reliability could be placed on claims of egaming growth in the Far East. This is due in large part to a lack of reliable data on the region and payment and language issues.
One source also pointed out that in Europe Victor Chandler gets much of its business from the highly competitive UK market, and on the whole is viewed as a niche bookmaker that made most of its money by catering to high rollers. This would clash with operators’ strategy of looking for recreational punters and taking their brands mainstream.
