Stars Group Acquires Sky Bet For $4.7 Billion

It seems like the Stars Group has decided to go on a little acquisition spree, with quite a few investments being made in the last couple of months. Towards the end of February this year, they purchased a $118 million majority stake in CrownBet, Australia’s fastest growing online sportsbook.

They followed that up with another major acquisition in March, having purchased the entire Australian unit of William Hill for $234 million. Again, William Hill is an online bookmaker and they decided to pursue their latest interest in online sportsbooks, by recently having agreed to acquire Sky Betting & Gaming for a massive amount of $4.7 billion.

Founded in 2001, Sky Bet is a UK-based online gambling company, which is one of the best in the business and is said to have the largest active online player-base. This acquisition by Stars Group, the parent company of poker giant PokerStars, is set to create the world’s largest publicly listed online gaming company.

”SB&G (Sky Betting & Gaming) operates one of the world’s fastest growing sportsbooks and is one of the United Kingdom’s leading gaming providers. SB&G’s premier sports betting product is the ideal complement to our industry-leading poker platform. The ability to offer two low-cost acquisition channels of this magnitude provides The Stars Group with great growth potential and will significantly increase our ability to create winning moments for our customers,” said Stars Group CEO Rafi Ashkenazi.

With this major acquisition, Stars Group has made it known to the world that they wish to be a major player in the international sports betting market. The deal is a huge one and is almost as big as when Amaya (former name of Stars Group) acquired PokerStars in 2014.

“We are delighted to join forces with The Stars Group. We have had a fantastic last few years and would like to thank CVC and Sky for supporting us in becoming a leading online operator in the UK. This transaction allows us to offer our best-in-class products to a truly global audience. We’re excited about our future together,” said Richard Flint, CEO of SB&G.

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