SPORTECH
THE RIGHT CONNECTION Sportech CEO Richard McGuire walks Gaming America through its transformational 2020, and the critical role the company must play in shaping the Connecticut online gaming market. for the whole group was rejected last year, however, but it is clear there will be serious levels of cash coming back to shareholders in the near future, and a de-risking in the current environment. We plan to be a much smaller and leaner company. We have also been working to streamline the company structure, digitise product, and make operations more nimble. This work has meant that going forward we have no debt, are cash-rich, have supportive shareholders, and can look at new opportunities. For us the focus is completing these existing deals, deciding what will be done with the payments, and then deciding what our strategy is in light of the huge potential opportunity in Connecticut now that the state is looking to expand online lottery, casino gaming and sports betting.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Sportech is in a transformational stage. First, we’ve announced the sale of the Global Tote, which covers services to the UK and to clients in many countries across the globe. This is with BetMakers Technology Group, an Australian company that's on an expansion drive, and a great group of people. That deal is progressing well and should complete in H1. We also announced the sale of our Bump 50:50 business, which is more focused on the North American and Canadian market. It’s predominately in-stadium raffles at sporting events, and it’s got a big client list including almost every major sports team, and works closely with a lot of charitable foundations. We streamlined that operation in 2019, installed new management, and last year they signed more new clients than ever before. It was a big success which led to interest and, ultimately, us announcing the sale of that business. So our business, once these deals go through, is pretty much going to be a retail one. It will be predominantly based in Connecticut, with the small lottery business that we currently have supplementing that. The sales will also generate a strong amount of cash (projected £36.1m from the sales alone) and we’re currently in discussion with shareholders over what we will do once we receive the amounts. An approach 30 GAMINGAMERICA
THE FUTURE IN CONNECTICUT At the moment, Governor Ned Lamont’s announcements look to have not been to our explicit benefit, and we feel as though we are not as involved in decision making as we should be. However, we are at present in discussions with the Governor’s office and have provided serious external legal opinion on our rights, how we feel the announcements so far are breaching certain Federal and state laws, and how we can progress to deliver an elegant solution to this collectively. The two key announcements that have been made so far came somewhat as surprises. The first was made during a public hearing on expanding gaming in the state, and towards the end of that session, it was announced that the Governor’s office had finalised an online gaming expansion deal with the Mohegan Tribe. It was a surprise announcement to a lot of people, which was disappointing, but it really mobilised us in terms of us defending our position in a more robust manner, which has helped. The second then included both tribes, but again included Sportech in a way that clearly made sense to the state Governor’s office, but not from our end. One must recognize, however, that Connecticut state offices are currently dealing with the social health and financial challenges of Covid-19 at present, so whereas as we are solely focused on the gaming matters at hand, you can understand why state governance may not be matching our level of focus in that respect.
