Bodog Europe scores touchdown with Hail Mary Sportsbook acquisition

If there’s a dominant trend in the online gaming industry right now, one that all the cool kids are doing, it’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Even before PartyGaming and Bwin officially tied the knot and became Pwin, they confessed they were eager to add still more layers to their already ample selves. And as soon as Sportingbet finished tallying up their bill from the US Dept. of Justice, they immediately began counting their remaining pence to see how much they had left to spend on acquiring some other company (or getting themselves some new clothes and a facial in case someone wanted to ‘acquire’ them).

Not wanting to be thought of as ‘uncool’ by their publicly traded brethren, Bodog Europe has belatedly decided to take the M&A plunge. After lining up all the gaming companies like working girls at the Bunny Ranch, Bodog has chosen the object of its fancy. For the record, the lucky lady’s name is Mary, as in Hail Mary Sportsbook.

Overseen by its colorful (some would say controversial) owner D. Sanchez, Hail Mary Sportsbook has been a virtual legend in the online gaming industry ever since it launched in 2004. Ask any of its customers, and to a man, they’ll tell you that no other online gaming company treats its clients in quite the same fashion that Hail Mary treats them. Bodog Europe CEO Patrik Selin says negotiations with the opinionated Sanchez were among the most challenging he’s ever experienced. “[Sanchez] is not the best listener. At times, it felt like I was talking to a brick wall.” Nevertheless, that wall was eventually breached and a deal was struck for Bodog Europe to acquire a 100% interest in Hail Mary, effective immediately.

In a somewhat baffling move, Selin also announced that he intends to take Hail Mary public, perhaps as early as the first quarter of 2011, in order to be able to compete at the same level as the new public behemoths. No doubt this will provoke a furious response from one Calvin Ayre, who has not been shy about expressing his negative opinion of the public company model in the online gaming biz. Given that Selin licenses the Bodog name from Calvin’s Bodog Brand organization, this could make for some uncomfortable discussions when the licensing contract comes up for renewal. Selin may want to rethink his definition of a ‘challenging’ negotiation. Watch this space for updates on this potentially explosive development.

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