On Monday, SuperBet announced that it had reached a deal to acquire 60% of Lucky7, an online casino business founded by Olor Örn, Magnus Petersson and Karl Ahlberg. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but SuperBet did reveal that it previously provided startup capital to Lucky7, which began life in early 2019.
Lucky7 operates several online casino brands across Europe and the Americas, and claims to be awaiting approval to launch in “at least three new markets” over the next 12 months. Co-founder Örn claims the company hit its stride during the COVID-19 shutdown of online sports betting, resulting in turnover of €17m during the second quarter.
SuperBet is Romania’s dominant sports betting operator and recently expanded into Poland’s regulated online wagering market (after missing a few deadlines). The company has made a mission to expand its operations on an international basis following a major cash infusion from the Blackstone Group hedge fund last year.
SuperBet CEO Johnny Hartnett, a former Paddy Power Betfair exec who assumed the captain’s seat last August, said SuperBet fleshing out its core sports offering with a bolt-on online casino product is “a win-win that will bring good luck to everyone.”
Hartnett (pictured) noted that he and his Blackstone partners share a goal of becoming “one of the largest gambling brands in Europe in two to three years. The current pandemic slightly delays the achievement of this goal, otherwise nothing has changed.”
SuperBet is already a major player in its home territory, reporting turnover of €2.8b in 2019 – a nearly fivefold improvement over the same number of years – and entering the top-10 of the country’s domestic businesses with a valuation of around €700m.