SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Entain Plc has extended its reach into sports media, announcing an acquisition of Israeli livescore media and football community 365scores.
The FTSE100 gambling group has purchased the entire issued shared capital of 365 scores for an initial consideration of $150m (£120m), along with further contingent payments totalling up to $10m (£8m).
By integrating 365scores into its portfolio, Entain will incorporate the company’s scores and sports information services, editorial and social content and sports-focused free-to-play (FTP) games into its own wider range of betting and gaming products and offerings.
365Scores becomes the 32nd brand of Entain’s global portfolio, in which it asserted that is new asset will provide ‘deep expertise in data-driven sports media content’, which will complement Entain’s ‘global and scale and market leading platform capabilities’.
“The acquisition unlocks further growth opportunities and supports our global strategic ambitions,” Entain outlined, focusing particularly on the potential of interactive content as part of the customer experience.
Founded in 2012 by former Israeli Defence Force (IDF) members, Tel Aviv-headquartered 365scores is ranked ‘amongst the top five scores apps worldwide’, according to Entain, with an active user base of 15 million and recording over 50m downloads according to Google’s PlayStore.
365scores itself states on its website that it has been ‘serving over 40 million sports fans’ since foundation 11 years ago, whilst its Facebook page currently has 1.6 million followers and its Twitter page 26,400.
The company’s services currently cover 10 different sports, such as football, basketball, American football and rugby, offering Real-time Stats, Breaking News, In-Play Insights, Lineups, Live Tables, Fixtures, Social Buzz, Odds.
On its website, 365scores describes itself as “the fastest, most accurate online live scores service, serving over 100 million fans worldwide since 2012”.
The acquisition is Entain’s second of this year, following a buyout of Sportsflare from Tidal Holdings in March for $13.25m, enhancing its presence in esports, where it has already built up a foothold throughout the takeover and relaunch of Unikrn.
The FTSE100 group – which saw 12% in 2022 to $4.3bn (2021: $3.8bn), albeit with difficult trading for its online business – is seeking further diversification of its global operations, which sees it conduct business in 31 ‘regulated or regulating territories’ across a double-digit brand portfolio.
