On the eve of earnings season for leading companies in the U.S. sports betting space, Tipico garnered headlines with merger speculation at the start of this week.
Malta-headquartered Tipico is strongly considering a sale of its U.S. platform, newsletter Earnings + More reported Monday. If Tipico consummates the sale, MGM Resorts has emerged as a potential buyer, E+M reported, citing multiple sources. Tipico is currently live with online sports betting in four states: New Jersey, Iowa, Colorado, and Ohio.
The merger speculation is not the first time Tipico has been linked with a sports betting behemoth in recent years. In June 2022, Fanatics reportedly entered into negotiations with Tipico on a potential acquisition. A deal never materialized, however, as Fanatics instead purchased PointsBet’s U.S. assets last spring.
A back-end provider?
An acquisition of Tipico may provide the latest signal that a small-to-mid size operator cannot handle the rough waters of the U.S. market. Despite spending large sums on marketing, PointsBet US found it challenging to compete with the heavyweights of the industry. Over the last two years, MaximBET, FOX BET, and Fubo Sportsbook are among the sportsbook brands that have shut down shop.
In March, Tipico generated $315,808 in gross revenue from online sports betting in New Jersey. The figures are a 15.3% decline from the same month in 2023. But for the year as a whole, Tipico has produced about $1.1 million in OSB revenue in the Garden State.
MGM Resorts has largely been indecisive on its long-term plans on BetMGM. A 50-50 joint venture with Entain, BetMGM is partly owned by MGM Resorts. While MGM provides the imprimatur through its branding, Entain powers the tech stack for the online betting venture.
MGM Resorts completed a $604 million acquisition of Swedish operator LeoVegas in 2022. At the moment, LeoVegas’ sports betting platform is powered by Kambi. Hypothetically, if MGM completes an acquisition of Tipico, the transaction could allow the company to move LeoVegas onto the Tipico tech stack.
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On Wednesday, MGM Resorts is scheduled to report 2024 first-quarter earnings after the bell.
CVC Capital Partners has served as the majority stakeholder of Tipico since 2016.