Monthly Archives: November 2016

500.com acquires Chinese mobile social poker operator

Chinese online sports lottery operator 500.com has taken a controlling stake in a social poker business in an attempt to diversify its currently non-existent revenue stream.

On Friday, 500.com announced that it had taken a 51% stake in Qufan Internet Technology Inc. and Shenzhen Qufan Internet Technology Co. Ltd, which collectively operate a mobile social poker platform.

500.com says the transaction, which will cost RMB 110.5m (US $16m), is subject to certain unspecified conditions. The company didn’t offer any guidance for what type of boost this acquisition might provide to 500.com’s bottom line.

The Nasdaq-listed 500.com is desperate to show investors some capacity to generate revenue, having now gone six straight quarters without a single penny from online lottery operations following Beijing’s March 2015 decision to ‘temporarily’ suspend online sales after uncovering widespread fraud by provincial lottery administrators.

South Australia urges states to adopt new online betting tax

Australian betting operator Tabcorp Holdings isn’t taking chances that an interloper could spoil its plans to merge with rival Tatts Group.

On Friday, Tabcorp announced that it had taken a roughly 10% stake in Tatts via a cash-settled equity swap with investment bankers UBS that gives Tabcorp certain voting rights. The purchase appears intended to ward off any competitors that might try to make their own acquisition play for Tatts.

In October, the two companies announced plans to join forces to create an Australian betting monster with annual revenue of over AUD5b. Our own Rafi Farber slammed the merger as a nakedly anti-competitive move intended to create a single booming voice with which to badger the government to impose further restrictions on Tabcorb/Tatts’ online rivals, most of which are local divisions of international firms.

Those online bookies have already protested the apparent carveout that Tabcorp and Tatts received via the ban on online in-play betting contained in the proposed amendments to the Interactive Gambling Act (IGA) 2001, which the two domestic firms had long pressed the government to implement.

South Australia urges states to adopt new online betting tax

Australian betting operator Tabcorp Holdings isn’t taking chances that an interloper could spoil its plans to merge with rival Tatts Group.

On Friday, Tabcorp announced that it had taken a roughly 10% stake in Tatts via a cash-settled equity swap with investment bankers UBS that gives Tabcorp certain voting rights. The purchase appears intended to ward off any competitors that might try to make their own acquisition play for Tatts.

In October, the two companies announced plans to join forces to create an Australian betting monster with annual revenue of over AUD5b. Our own Rafi Farber slammed the merger as a nakedly anti-competitive move intended to create a single booming voice with which to badger the government to impose further restrictions on Tabcorb/Tatts’ online rivals, most of which are local divisions of international firms.

Those online bookies have already protested the apparent carveout that Tabcorp and Tatts received via the ban on online in-play betting contained in the proposed amendments to the Interactive Gambling Act (IGA) 2001, which the two domestic firms had long pressed the government to implement.