Sportech, the football pools and gaming operator, boosted its international aspirations today after gaining a toehold in the Indian market through a joint venture with the country’s biggest gaming and media group.
The group, which runs The New Football Pools, has teamed up with Playwin, the lottery and gaming operator owned by the giant Essel Group, to launch a sports gaming business across the country.
Each party will invest £2 million for a 50 per cent stake in the venture to fund the launch of a range of prediction and fantasy games based on India’s most popular sports — cricket, football and Formula One — over the next three years.
Ian Penrose, the chief executive of Sportech, said that the deal was an important plank in the group’s overseas development plans because Indians were “hugely sports mad”.
He said that the initial range of games was likely to include Spot the Ball — both in cricket and in football — and that the group hoped to launch its core football pools offering next year.
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He said he expected the pools games to be available via traditional doorstep collections as well as through retail outlets and the internet.
Playwin already has a presence across India through a network of gaming terminals in more than 2,000 retail establishments and online.
In the seven years since it launched the Super Lotto, it has paid out more than £1.2 billion in prize money, with a biggest single jackpot of £2.4 million.
As a division of India’s largest media group, the joint venture will be promoted across Essel’s main forms of media, including India’s highest-rated TV channels network, Zee TV, and the cable operators, WWIL and DishTV.
Mr Penrose said: “India has a huge population with a long history of being committed sports fans, and Playwin is ideal as a partner as it is already India’s premier gaming operator and enjoys significant brand strength.
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“This gives Sportech a great platform from which to launch sports-based gaming products into a growing and lucrative marketplace.
“We look forward to operating a successful business in India as we continue to pursue further international distribution opportunities.”
Amit Goenka, the chief executive of Playwin, said: “India is a sports-loving nation and there is a huge market for gaming. We aim to attract and target a significant number of sport lovers through this joint venture”.
The deal comes two weeks after Sportech secured a new £91 million credit facility from Lloyds Banking Group to give it increased financial headroom after slower-than-expected trading last year as well as a war chest for acquisitions.
The company, which acquired Littlewoods Gaming in 2000 and subsequently swallowed the Vernons and Zetters pools businesses, had been renegotiating its banking covenants with Lloyds Banking Group since November, when it asked for more flexibility to enable it to look at “important strategic opportunities”.
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Sportech already offers football pools in 12 other countries, the biggest of which is Mauritius, where doorstep collectors have operated for more than 50 years.
Closer to home, Mr Penrose has made no secret of his interest in bidding for the Tote, the state-owned bookmaker, if the Government resurrects plans to sell the business.
Elsewhere, Sportech is pursuing HM Revenue & Customs for £40 million in overpaid VAT on its Spot the Ball game.
Given Rank’s recent VAT victory, its chances of success look better than evens.