How SVL acquisition of AnyBet will Boost Quisk and GK MPay Mobile Money

SVL (Supreme Ventures Limited) is acquiring Jamaica’s largest sports bookmaker, Any Bet.

Any Bet is the trading name for Post to Post Betting Limited. Operated by Post to Post Holdings Limited, the company has signed a letter of intent with SVL to sell majority interest to the gaming company as noted in the article “Supreme Ventures Acquires Main Sports Betting Rival Any Bet”, published May 8, 2019 by Steven Jackson, The Jamaica Gleaner.

SVL operates rival sports-betting game JustBet. They are one of several Bookmakers in Jamaica in a list that includes the following companies that made some JA$4.93 billion in 2018 fiscal year:

1.      Post to Post Betting/Any Bet

2.      Capital Betting & Wagering Limited

3.      Ideal Betting Company

4.      Island Bet

5.      Jamozzie/BetCris

If this merger go through and close in June, SVL would end up controlling 90% of the market.

So who or what exactly is AnyBet? And why is this significant to SVL's overall plans?

SVL and Anybet – A Brief History of Post to Post Betting

SVL is the leading player in the following areas:

1.      Lottery

2.      Horse Racing

They are the sole owners of the only horse-racing track, Caymanas Park, acquired from the Jamaican government in 2017. Post to Post Betting is owned by the following shareholders according to Companies Office of Jamaica records:

1.      Albert Chow

2.      Lloyd Hoo Mook

3.      Natasha Hoo Mook

4.      Icilda Hoo Mook

5.      Natalia Hoo Mook

6.      Alexander Chin

7.      Rodney Chin

Post to Post Betting controls some 73% the bookmaking market and is the result of the merger of three (3) companies in 2013:

1.      Champion Betting

2.      Track Price Plus Limited

3.      Markham Betting

With over 188 betting shops across the island, they are the leading bookmaker in the island. So says the data published by regulator Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission, BGLC, in its annual report for the year ending March 2017.

In terms of earnings, Any Bet led the market as follows:

1.      JA$3.64 billion posted by Any Bet

2.      JA $611 million posted by Just Bet

3.      JA $260 million posted by Island Bet

4.      JA$183.7 million posted by Jamozzie/BetCris

5.      JA$170.1 million posted by Ideal

6.      JA$70 million posted by Capital Betting

So what does this mean financially for the SVL?

SVL and Anybet - Bookmaking is their last frontier

Thus this acquisition fits into their overall plan to dominate betting and bookmaking in Jamaica, booth off-track and online as noted in my blog article entitled “How Supreme Ventures Mobile Betting App may revive Lotto or Super Lotto Gaming”. 

Bookmakers take bets for events such as:

1.      Horse racing

2.      Simulcast racing

3.      Sports betting

Sports such as such as football and NBA games are also up for betting, making them competitors to JustBet, which had recently launched an app to do the very same thing as reported in my Geezam article entitled “Supreme Ventures JustBet Mobile sees winnings Quisk-ed to NCB Account”.

They then pay betters according to their odds when they win. This is an area that SVL has no control over. So this acquisition would increase their stake from 19% of the bookmaking market to almost 100% overnight, should it go through in June 2019.

SVL and Bookmaking - Online Bookmaking is coming the future

In 2018, SVL posted some interesting numbers.

According to SVL’s 2018 audited results, they made JA$248 million in revenue in the sport-betting segment, which accounts for 6% of their total revenue.

Currently , Sports betting only contributes 1% or JA$87 million to SVL's revenue in the Q1 od 2019, which has reached some JA$621 million in after-tax profit on JA$9.3 billion of revenue.

If SVL can acquire AnyBet in June 2019 and scale by pushing Sports betting online line it is doing with the other betting services as noted in my blog article entitled “How Supreme Ventures Mobile Betting App may revive Lotto or Super Lotto Gaming”.

   

They can make potentially make every Jamaican with a bank account a betting man on their smartphone and also allow regular Jamaicans to also become bookmakers for virtually any sports event, a virtually untapped revenue stream in Jamaica.

Clearly Mobile Money players such as Quisk and GK MPay will have a big part to play in this, as it will become the man currency going forward as predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to get Jamaicans to use Quisk, GK MPay for more than just Phone Credit” as we become more connected via our smartphones.