History
Playtech was founded in 1999 by the Israeli entrepreneur Teddy Sagi in Tartu, Estonia, with partners from the casino, software engineering and multimedia industries. Playtech launched its first casino product in 2001, and since then it has grown to become the world's leading and largest international designer, developer and licensor of web and mobile application software to the digital gaming industry, whose customers are most of the blue chip companies in this industry (William Hill, Ladbrokes, Bet365 in the UK, Snai and Sisal in Italy, etc.), as well as governments and regulated agencies.; In March 2006, Playtech was floated successfully on the AIM market at a valuation of approximately US$950 million (approximately £550 million). [3]
After the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, the company's stock suffered a one-day fall of over 40%. [4] On 22 October 2008, Playtech announced that it would acquire private assets from Teddy Sagi in return for $250 million. [5] Then in March 2011, Playtech bought PT Turnkey Services from Teddy Sagi for £125m. [5] In July 2013, Playtech acquired PokerStrategy.com, one of the largest poker communities in the world with almost 7 million members, from etruvian Holdings Ltd for $49.2 million. [6] In September 2014, Playtech announced the acquisition of Aristocrat Lotteries from Aristocrat Leisure Limited, in a EUR €10.5 million deal. [7]
In January 2015, many Playtech-powered casino sites announced they were leaving the German market. [8] In February 2015 it was announced that Playtech acquired YoYo Games, the maker of GameMaker Studio game development software, for £10.65 million (US$16.4 million). [9] It was revealed in June 2015 that Playtech would acquire the online foreign exchange trader Plus500 for a fee of $699 million. [10] This planned deal was terminated in November 2015. [11]
In May 2016 Playtech acquired Swedish online game developer Quickspin. The first payment of €24m will represent 100% of the shares of Quickspin on a cash free debt free basis with the remaining €26m to be paid on an earn-out basis depending on Quickspin's EBITDA over the course of 2017 and 2018. [12] In July 2016 Playtech acquired rival operator Best Gaming Technology (BGT) for €138m, as betting groups continue to react to the wave of consolidation that has swept through the industry. [13] Playtech branched out into Romania in January 2017 with the opening of its casino studio based in Bucharest designed to provide live casino games to local online gambling operators. [14] With Playtech's licensing contract with Marvel Comics expiring on 31 March 2017, [15] the provider announced a new partnership with Warner Bros in February 2017 for the development of slots based on DC Comic feature films such as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Suicide Squad and Justice League. [16]
In November 2016, Playtech announced the acquisition of CFH Group, a prime of prime broker, to strengthen the B2B offering in its Financials division [17] which it later named TradeTech Group. [18]
In October 2017, Playtech announced that they had acquired BetBuddy, a leading responsible gambling analytics company. BetBuddy's behavioural identification and modification software will be integrated with Playtech's current player management system in the hopes it can identify and help problem gambling quicker. [19]
In January 2018, Playtech finalised the integration of Featurespace's machine learning real-time fraud detection platform into its information management systems. The strategic partnership with the behavioural analytics company aims for Playtech's licensees to identify and reduce fraud attacks. [20]
In March 2018, Playtech agreed a deal with Totalizator Sportowy, the provider of the Polish national lottery. [21]
In April 2018, Playtech paid €291 million for a 70.6% stake in Italian betting and gaming firm Snaitech. Including Snaitech's debt, the enterprise value of the deal was €846 million. [22]
In Sept 2018, Playtech announced that it was selling its 10% stake in Plus500 Ltd. for a total of £176 million. [23]
In November 2018, founder Teddy Sagi sold his remaining shares in Playtech. [24] Though Sagi had been steadily reducing his holdings in the company, [25] the final sale came not long after investor Jason Ader urged the company to shed its remaining ties to Sagi, whose ongoing involvement Ader claimed might have hindered Playtech's U.S. market ambitions. [26]
In April 2020, Playtech appointed non-executive director Claire Milne as interim chairman after former chair Alan Jackson indicated his intention to step down following the company's 2020 annual general meeting. [27]
On May 29, 2020, Playtech agreed to pay £3.5 million to responsible gambling charities following the suicide of 25-year-old Chris Bruney, a customer at the company's TitanBet and Winner gambling sites who lost over £119,000 in the five days prior to his death, during which time he was issued multiple bonuses by managers of the sites’ VIP programs. [28] The UK Gambling Commission had planned to impose a £3.5 million penalty on Playtech subsidiary PT Entertainment Services after identifying “serious systemic failings in the way PTES managed its social responsibility and anti-money laundering processes” but the company surrendered its UK licenses before the penalty could be imposed. [29] Following media reports of the controversy, Playtech agreed to pay the £3.5 million and chairperson Claire Milne promised to personally apologize to Bruney's family. [30]
In August 2020, Playtech began offering online casino games via Bet365’s New Jersey-licensed website, marking the company's debut in the US regulated online gambling market. [31]
In August 2020 Playtech confirmed that it was exploring a potential sale of trading technology division to TradeTech. [32]
As part of its divestment of its casual and mobile game sectors, Playtech announced it had sold YoYo Games to Opera Software in January 2021 for US$10 million. [33] [34]
On 11 October 2021, Playtech announced the partnership with Holland Casino for the development of their online casino environment. [35]
On 18 October 2021, Aristocrat Leisure announced that it had made an offer to acquire Playtech for US$3.7 billion. [36] The transaction was abandoned nine months later due to challenging market conditions. [37]
Operations
Virtue Fusion is Playtech's bingo platform. The platform, which was acquired in 2010, has been enhanced by the purchase of ECM Systems in 2016. [38]
iPoker is Playtech's poker platform. It was implemented in the UK by casino game designer Geoff Hall, inventor of Blackjack Switch and currently has more than 60 members of staff. [39] The network works using a skin-based system. This simply means that each site on the network has its own skin of the underlying poker interface; the lobby, table layout and design are all exactly the same. However, each site can apply its own colour scheme and branding. Most importantly in order to maintain the liquidity needed to operate a successful poker network, each of these skins shares the same player pool. As of April 2014 the network had 30 active skins. [40]
Playtech BGT Sports, a majority-owned subsidiary of Playtech, provides sports betting software and technology to bookmakers. It was formed through the 2016 acquisition of Best Gaming Technology GmbH, which was then merged with Playtech's existing sports businesses. [41] As of 2016, its software powers approximately 27,000 self-service betting terminals for operators such as Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, and OPAP. [42] [43] [44]
In April 2022, Playtech announced a TV game content and production partnership with Entains British betting and gambling company Ladbrokes. [45]
In April 2022, Playtech announced a content agreement with online igaming software provider CT gaming, allowing the release of the company’s content via the Playtech Open Platform. [46]
Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, the companies merged to create Ladbrokes Coral Group. Since March 2018, it has been owned by Entain. Prior to its sale, Ladbrokes Coral was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a member of the FTSE 250 Index.
William Hill is a British gambling company founded in 1934. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are led from its headquarters in London. The company was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in April 2021. In July 2022, William Hill was subsequently bought by 888 Holdings for £2.2 billion.
Aristocrat Leisure Limited is an Australian gambling machine manufacturer, which has its administrative and research headquarters in the Sydney suburb of North Ryde. It has marketing and development offices in South Africa, Russia, and the United States.
partypoker is an online poker card room. Launched in 2001 by PartyGaming, the site has had up to 80,000 players logged-in and was the largest online card room until 2006. In 2011 PartyGaming merged with bwin to form Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. As of 2017, it remains among the largest online poker card rooms. The site was endorsed by Mike Sexton, the former host of the World Poker Tour television show. The domain partypoker.com attracted at least 3.6 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study. In 2016, after a protracted bidding process between 888 Holdings and GVC Holdings, Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment accepted GVC Holdings' bid for £1.1 billion. Today, the site is run by GVC Holdings and is available in 14 different languages. In addition to partypoker.com, partypoker also offers dedicated networks for French and Italian based players via partypoker.fr and partypoker.it, respectively. GVC Holdings also acquired PartyCasino during the 2011 merger of Party Gaming.
Evoke plc, formerly 888 Holdings Limited, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It owns brands such as 888casino, 888poker, 888sport, Mr Green, and William Hill. Business operations are led from its headquarters in London, alongside satellite offices in Bucharest, Ceuta, Gibraltar, Leeds, Malta, Sofia, and Tel Aviv. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
PokerStars is an online poker cardroom. It is the largest real money online poker site in the world, controlling over two-thirds of the total online poker market, and can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
Sportingbet is a British online gambling operator, owned by Entain plc. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index prior to its acquisition by GVC holdings.
bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, formerly known as Betandwin, is an Austrian online betting brand acquired by Entain PLC. The group operated under international and regional licences in countries like Gibraltar, the Amerindian reserve of Kahnawake (Canada), and Belize; and Germany, Italy, Mexico, Croatia, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom in Europe. Bwin offered sports betting, poker, casino games, and soft and skill games, with most revenue coming from poker and sports betting. Bwin had over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets. Competence centres were located in Vienna, Stockholm, and Gibraltar.
Chartwell Technology was a gaming software developer focused largely on the online casino market. The company was based in Calgary.
Cryptologic Limited was a Dublin, Ireland-based software application service provider, one of the oldest established in the online gambling industry. It was acquired by the Amaya Gaming Group in 2012 and has since had its business-to-consumer division, WagerLogic, sold to a third party.
Boss Media AB, with its main headquarters in Växjö, Sweden, was a developer of software and systems for digitally distributed gambling entertainment. Boss Media was publicly traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange from 1999 to 2008, when GEMed bought the company and rebranded it to GTECH Gaming.
Bet365 is a British gambling company founded in 2000. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are conducted from its headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, alongside a satellite office in Malta. It was founded by Denise Coates, who remains the majority shareholder and joint-chief executive, alongside her brother John Coates.
Sportech PLC is an online gambling and entertainment company headquartered in the United Kingdom. The company is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol SPO.L; the stock is a component of the Alternative Investment Market. The company, formerly known as Rodime PLC, was originally an electronics company specialising in hard disk drives based in Scotland. In 2000, the company changed its name to Sportech PLC, after acquiring Littlewoods Pools from The Littlewoods Organisation for £160 million.
Kindred Group is an online gambling operator which consists of nine brands, among them Unibet, Maria Casino and 32Red. The Group offer products such as online casino, online poker, online bingo, and sports betting. The company is registered in Malta, but also has major hub offices in Gibraltar, London, Stockholm and the US in addition to smaller satellite offices across Europe and Australia. Kindred Group is a publicly listed company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (Nasdaq). In 2017, the company's revenue was GBP 751.4 million.
Teddy Sagi is an Israeli billionaire businessman based in London and Dubai. Sagi is the founder of the gambling software company Playtech, cybersecurity company Kape Technologies and owner of London's Camden Market. His personal wealth is estimated at US$5.7 billion, with interests in real estate, gambling software, payments processing, and digital advertising.
TonyBet is an international online gaming company providing sports betting, live betting and live gaming services. The TonyBet website offers a live gaming service allowing the players to place bets on lottery, casino, poker and other games live.
Entain plc, formerly GVC Holdings, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker and Sportingbet.
LeoVegas AB is a Swedish mobile gaming company and provider of online casino and sports betting services such as table games, video slots, progressive jackpots, video poker and live betting to a number of international markets. LeoVegas Gaming Ltd. is a subsidiary of MGM Resorts International.
Shay Segev is a business executive in the technology sector and the CEO of DAZN, the over-the-top (OTT) sports subscription streaming service. Described by Gaming Intelligence as a tech “futurist”, Segev is the former chief executive of Entain plc, previously GVC Holdings, a global sports betting and gambling company listed on the London FTSE 100 index. Before that he was chief operating officer of Playtech, a gambling software development company listed on London's FTSE 250.
€ 1,706.7 million (2023) [1]