Kindred – DraftKings acquisition rumours surface

Last week’s news that Paddy Power Betfair has acquired DFS operator FanDuel with the US sports betting market in mind has been followed by as yet unconfirmed reports that the Kindred Group is considering an acquisition bid on DraftKings for similar reasons.

Breaking the news Friday, the usually reliable US publication Legal Sports Report quoted multiple but anonymous sources, which were not in a position to publish full details of the bid or how advanced negotiations may be.

The report notes that DraftKings has been working on its DK Sportsbook with sports betting specialist Kambi, a business-to-business spin-off from the Unibet Group, which morphed into Kindred Group in 2016.

DraftKings is well established as a US brand and is known to have ambitions in the newly liberated US sports betting sector; the DFS firm recently announced a partnership with Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino.

A deal with a strong gambling group like Kindred would represent a powerful combination of resources and experience; Kindred has assets like 32 Red and Unibet among its dozen or so subsidiaries, has bases across Europe and last year posted revenues of GBP 750.

At the end of last month Kindred indicated its interest in the US sports betting market when it announced the appointment of Manuel Stan as senior vice president and head of a new American business division (see previous report).

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