Entain seeks to divest PartyPoker

PartyPoker, Entain’s flagship poker brand bequeath to it from GVC Holdings, is up for sale, a Sky News report has stated, with the FTSE-100 company hiring Oakvale Capital to help it look for a suitable buyer.

According to the media publication, Entain has secured the company to help it explore the prospective sale of its renowned poker brand, with the gambling giant hoping to fetch £150m on the back of the sale.

Although an important part of its identity, PartyPoker is not among the main drivers of business for Entain, and could be safely divest, the company estimates. Further details about the potential sale are not immediately known, and neither Entain nor Oakvale agreed to a comment for Sky News.

PartyPoker has been able to secure some important victories over the past several years, including the reentry into the online poker space in New Jersey and Pennsylvania following the regulation of markets.

The company is still one of the busiest global brands when it comes to player traffic, but it is admittedly not climbing towards the top, with an average user base of 600 players daily. Meanwhile, a potential sale would come at an equally important period for Entain as well.

Entain has come under a lot of heavy criticism over some business decisions, not least the acquisition of Polish sportsbook operator STS for $957m which was seen as a bad strategic call by some investors who criticized the FTSE-100’s company decision-making process.

A settlement with the British tax watchdog has also contributed to the growing sense of defeatism within the company and was followed by the exit of Jette Nygaard-Andersen, the executive who led the company almost since it rebranded to Entain. Stella Davis, her successor, has been cautiously optimistic about the future of the company, although admitted that immediately positive results may be some way off.

In light of this, and mounting investor pressure from the likes of Eminence Capital, it stands to reason that Entain is looking to further double down on its most successful business and shed some of the assets that, despite their significance to the company as a whole, may be better left outside of the business, so the company may focus on other core vitals.

One such could be BetMGM, which Entain has been lambasted by its own investors for not paying enough attention to. Already, BetMGM has lost some steam in the US market, which is its own stomping ground, although the operator has also touched ground in the United Kingdom and is planning for further expansion.

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