Retail

New UK Prime Minister Theresa May has appointed Karen Bradley as the new Secretary of Culture, Media & Sport replacing John Whittingdale who will no longer hold a Conservative Party cabinet position. Bradley, the former Home Office minister has been described as a ‘May Loyalist’, and will now lead the Department for Culture Media & Sports (DCMS) ensuring UK media …

West African bookmaker Safaribet has stepped up to become the title sponsor of the Ghana Premier League 2016/17 football season. Reported by Ghanaian football news source GhanaSoccerNet.com, Ghana FA and Premier League officials were seeking a secure a title sponsor for its sixteen team league failing to secure sponsorship in 2016. The bookmaker has operated in Ghana since 2012, becoming …

Online betting exchange Matchbook has confirmed that it has become the official betting partner of the Qatar Goodwood Festival. Matchbook confirms its Goodwood partnership, as the betting operator unveils its new horse racing betting product to complement its existing sports betting markets. As part of their on-course presence at Goodwood, Matchbook is sponsoring five races across the first three days, …

Inspired Gaming Group, the manufacturer of FOBTs and developer of virtual and slots games, is to be acquired by New York-based private equity firm Hydra Industries for a total valuation of £200 million. The sale of Inspired assets has been negotiated with main investor Vitruvian Partners LLP and its co-investors in the enterprise. Deal stakeholders informed that the acquisition deal, which includes …

William Hill has revealed that it has taken bets on Britain not leaving the EU before 2020. At present, the bookmaker is offering odds of 2/1 on Britain not fulfilling its BREXIT mandate by 2020, with William Hill further offering 4/6 odds that the UK departure will come in 2019 and 4/1 by 2018. Publishing its market, company spokesman Graham …

UK lottery players have responded negatively to changes made to the EuroMillions game (Europe’s largest lottery draw). Commenting on social media channels, UK players have protested against the increased pricing of the EuroMillions draw, which will see the price of a line go up by 50p to £2.50 from September. Furthermore, the EuroMillions game will feature an extra lucky star …

FTSE-listed Playtech Plc continues to strengthen its position within the sports betting market by confirming to acquire Best Gaming Technology for €138 million (£115 million). The ‘all-cash’ acquisition sees Playtech secure a 90% stake in the Vienna-based company, which specialises in retail based sports betting provisions, risk/ liability management and multi-channel odds feeds.   The announced deal will see BGT …

Partnering with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published its initial ‘joint consultation’ on proposed changes to operator fees with regards to UK gambling licences. The commission expects to implement these changes from April 2017. The proposals of the UKGC consultation are as follows: Take account of the significant changes to our costs …

Irish independent bookmaker BoyleSports has confirmed that it has agreed to acquire four retail betting shops from liquidated operator Hacketts Ireland. The purchase of the betting shops was registered through High-Court appointed liquidator Ken Tyrrell and Declan McDonald of PwC. The agreed deal will see BoyleSports takeover the management of Hacketts betting shops in Cashel (Co Tipperary), Callan (Co Kilkenny), …

The Sunday Times has reported that Betfred is nearing a deal to buy hundreds of betting shops, as the Ladbrokes-Coral merger enters the final stages of its UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) review. As part of its merger completion, Ladbrokes-Coral has been forced to sell a significant number of betting shops in order to secure UK competition approval and …