Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but UK-listed gambling operator Sportech says it’s sold its Football Pools business.

On Thursday, Sportech filed its annual report, along with a notice announcing the £83m conditional sale of the Pools business to FP Acquisitions Ltd, a new entity controlled by European private equity firm OpCapita LLP.

The deal depends on Sportech securing its shareholders’ approval and OpCapita being able to acquire the necessary licenses from the UK Gambling Commission. Sportech claims OpCapita has long been eyeing a gaming-related acquisition and the Pools was apparently the ideal way to get its toe in the door.

For the record, Sportech has been down this road before, having scrapped three announced deals to offload the Pools in in the last 18 months to Contagious Gaming, NetPlay TV and Burlywood Capital. The last of these aborted deals would have seen Burlywood pay £97.25m for the Pools business.