Does Playtech have acquisition plans for Openbet or Amaya?

Media reports in the Sunday Times and investment publication Motley Fool this week quoted an anonymous source who speculated that Playtech could be eyeing Openbet and possibly Amaya with a view to an acquisition move.

The reports noted that Playtech has an expansion strategy, along with a cash pile of $600 million and easy access to a further $200 million if necessary.

Our readers will recall earlier reports that Openbet is currently the subject of a GBP250 million acquisition bid by NYX Gaming, backed by William Hill plc, and Amaya’s CEO David Baazov has recently announced his intention to take the Montreal-based company over in collaboration with other investors.

Motley Fool reported that Amaya stocks surged 9 percent on the reports this week, but veteran industry observer Warren Bartlett of Global Betting and Gaming Consultants said in a Gambling Insider interview that he doubted that either Openbet or Amaya was in Playtech’s sights.

“I would be surprised if Playtech acquired either OpenBet or Amaya,” he said. “Playtech has its own sports-betting software and has an integrated common-wallet strategy across all its products so there is a good chance they will pick up business over time when contracts elapse.”

Regarding Amaya, Bartlett noted that the company has halved in value, and online poker is in decline but its massive database might be attractive to Playtech.

“However,” he noted “the switch from software provider to operator is no easy task when so much resource, time and effort is used to generate software products.”

Motley Fool speculates on another Playtech possibility…instead of bidding against Baazov for Amaya, the company could instead join him by partnering in his takeover to create a supercompany.

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