Bally’s Corporation, formerly known as Twin River Worldwide, has entered a deal to acquire Bet.Works.
Bally’s Corporation, the US casino operator formerly known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings, has entered a $125m deal to acquire the sports betting platform provider Bet.Works.
This comes after the US casino operator acquired the Bally’s brand from Caesars Entertainment.
The deal
Under the deal, Bally’s will take ownership of Bet.Works’ proprietary technology stack and turnkey solutions, as well as marketing, customer service, risk management, operations and compliance tools.
Bally’s aims to use the deal to become “the premier, full-service, vertically integrated sports betting and igaming company” in the US gambling space.
The casino operator will fund half of the price with cash and the other half with Bally’s common stock, which Bet.Works shareholders have agreed to hold on to for at least a year. Bally’s expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2021, pending regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.
Bally’s described the deal as the latest step in its long-term growth, development and unification strategy. At the time of writing, the operator has seen its US footprint grow significantly as it has now grown its network to 14 casinos across 10 states once all pending transactions are finalised.
With the deal in place, Bally’s will restructure its business into two different divisions. Bally’s Casinos will house the operator’s land-based facilities while Bally’s Interactive serves as an umbrella for Bet.Works’ sportsbook operations.
Bet.Works is currently live in New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana and Iowa with theScore and Elite Casino Resorts. Bally’s also has an online gambling market access agreement with theScore in New Jersey.
Soo Kim, Chairman of Bally’s Corporation’s Board of Directors said: “This is the next step in our Company’s evolution.
“By combining our expanding national footprint of casinos, the recently acquired Bally’s brand, and Bet.Works’ proprietary technology stack, we have evolved in just a few short years from a regional casino operator into the first US gaming company committed to serving our customers with an omni-channel approach, combining the best of our physical properties with a superior online experience.”
George Papanier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bally’s Corporation, said: “We are very excited to welcome Bet.Works to the Bally’s family. Owning Bet.Works’ superior technology platform will not only give Bally’s a long-term margin advantage online, but, more importantly, will also allow us to evolve our interactive product suite to go where sports betting and iGaming customers are headed quickly.
“David Wang and his team at Bet.Works have already demonstrated impressive growth and the ability to execute while creating a differentiated platform. We are very pleased to bring this technology to our more than 14 million active customers who will experience Bally’s Casinos and Bally’s Interactive as a unified brand with a single player card and rewards system.”
Bet.Works founder and CEO David Wang will serve as Bally’s Interactive CEO once the acquisition is complete.
What is Bet.Works?
Bet.Works is an online sportsbook solutions provider which currently employs 130 staff across three US offices. The business will also open a technology development centre in Rhode Island next year, which is where Bally’s flagship Twin River casinos are located.
The supplier has attracted several high profile investors including J Moses, a director at Take-Two Interactive, the owner of Rockstar Games, and Tony Forstmann, a founding partner of Forstmann-Leff & Associates, one the first US hedge funds.
Wang said: “We are pleased to be joining the Bally’s family, which has demonstrated a remarkable track record of growth and diversification with a proven management team. We remain committed to creating the world’s best sports entertainment products, as well as delivering innovative and exciting solutions for sports betting and iGaming consumers across Bally’s national footprint.
“Bet.Works will continue to offer our best in class solutions to our existing B2B clients and our future partners in the US market as we expand our reach into newly-regulated states.”
