Supreme Ventures to acquire more of AnyBet
Published:Friday | November 15, 2019 | 12:00 AM
Gaming conglomerate Supreme Ventures Limited, SVL, will acquire additional shares in Jamaica’s largest sports bookmaker, Post to Post Betting, which would give it 80 per cent control of the business.
Post to Post trades as AnyBet.
SVL Chairman Gary Peart told the Financial Gleaner that the shares would be acquired “in a year” and that the price remains to be determined.
SVL acquired 51 per cent of AnyBet in July this year for $572 million. The agreement allows SVL to buy another 29 per cent of the company, equivalent to 4.16 million shares, according to SVL financial disclosures.
Efforts to reach the families that sold control to SVL were unsuccessful, and AnyBet manager Don Smith said he was not cleared to speak on such matters.
SVL acquired shares in Post to Post Betting from three families. The shareholders included Albert Chow, Lloyd Hoo Mook, Natasha Hoo Mook, Icilda Hoo Mook, Natalia Hoo Mook, Alexander Chin and Rodney Chin, according to Companies Office of Jamaica records.
Sports betting accounted for $463.3 million of the $28 billion in revenue for SVL over nine months to September 2019. It ranks as the second-lowest revenue segment for the group, but the third-highest profit earner behind lottery games and pin codes. It already surpasses the $248 million of revenue recorded for the segment for the full year in 2018.
SVL is the leading player in the lottery-gaming market and owner of Jamaica’s only horse racing track, Caymanas Park, which it acquired from the Jamaican Government in 2017. But its dominance did not carry into the bookmaking market.
Bookmakers take bets for events such as horse racing, simulcast racing and other sports, such as football and NBA games. They then pay betters according to their odds.
Based on the most recent data available, Post to Post Betting controlled some 73 per cent of the bookmaking market, based on sales, according to regulator Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission’s annual report for the year ending March 2017. SVL held a 19 per cent share at the time, through subsidiary Prime Sports.
Post to Post resulted from the merger of Jamaica’s largest bookmaking companies – Champion Betting, Track Price Plus Limited and Markham Betting – in 2013. At the time, the three firms operated over 188 betting shops across Jamaica.
Jamaica’s main bookmakers in 2017 were Post to Post Betting/Any Bet; Prime Sports Jamaica/JustBet; Capital Betting & Wagering Limited; Ideal Betting Company; Island Bet; and Jamozzie/BetCris. The six companies generated $4.93 billion in total sales for the fiscal year, led by AnyBet with $3.64 billion.