Playtech add Ladbrokes to bookie partners

Although Playtech may be losing their stake in William Hill Online as the bookmaker exercises a buyout option, they are by no means backing out of the sportsbook market entirely.

The recent Annual General Meeting of Playtech shareholders was a chance to hammer this fact home, as company chairman Roger Withers outlined how Playtech are building on the WHO deal, as well as forging new partnerships with one of the UK bookie industry’s other biggest names, Ladbrokes.

Mr Withers said: “The conclusion of the sale of Playtech’s minority stake in WHO and the achievement of consistent double-digit annual growth at WHO demonstrate the significant mutual success Playtech can create through its joint venture activities.”

In terms of the Ladbrokes deal, he added that Playtech are “delighted” to be forming an alliance with one of the gaming industry’s most respected and largest brands, and are committed to helping Ladbrokes to develop their digital business.

Under the Ladbrokes agreement, Playtech subsidiary PTTS will collaborate with Ladbrokes to create a new ‘Vegas’ tab on the bookmaker’s website, allowing members to access casino titles and games across mobile phones, tablets and desktop online access.

Ladbrokes already offers certain casino, poker and bingo games, with its Ladbrokes Bingo site powered by Virtue Fusion – which was acquired by Playtech in 2010. It remains to be seen whether this new deal will involve a major overhaul, or simply a rationalisation of the existing games into a single comprehensive Vegas suite.

Returning to the WHO deal, meanwhile, a mid-April statement from Playtech confirmed that the option to acquire Playtech’s 29% stake had been exercised by William Hill, with the transaction completed at a valuation of £423.75 million.

This represented a return of more than 3.5 times on a cash-on-cash basis, excluding software royalties, and does not include Playtech’s share of 2013 profits from WHO up until that point.

Playtech confirmed at the time that its collaboration with William Hill on pre-existing software agreements would continue unaffected by the transactions, meaning the casino software provider now has revised long-term arrangements with both Ladbrokes and William Hill.

WHO is likely to continue with little to no noticeable effects for the casual visitor or website member, although the buyout could see William Hill stamp even more of their brand identity on to the site and connected brands like William Hill Bingo.

But it’s the Ladbrokes deal that sounds most likely to lead to substantial cosmetic effects, as well as more technical changes to the Ladbrokes casino offering – and we’ll be watching for the first signs of the Ladbrokes Vegas tab appearing on the site.