News are just in. Scientific Games will acquire sports betting data company Don Best. This power move aims to put Scientific Games at the top of the sports betting tech solutions.
The deal will be finalized and close in the final months of the year, but both Scientific and Don Best are already counting the profits that would result in this acquisition.
Don Best operates via its two corporations – Don Best Sports and DBS Canada, both of which will become a property of SG, following the deal.
The company has been a leader in real-time data technology in the sports betting market for more than two decades. More than 100 sportsbooks operating worldwide rely on Don Best to process and deliver real-time sports betting information.
The acquisition of Don Best will propel Scientific Games to the top of the NJ sports betting market as well as emerging states like Mississippi and Delaware.
Going big on sports betting
Don Best is a great deal for Scientific Games for numerous reasons. The most obvious is that SG will get access to all of Don Best’s current technology and clients.
However, Don Best will also come in with its expertise and the relationships built over the years as a trusted data partner for many industry names.
Sports betting data has been the subject of many disputes, following the legalization and expansion of sports betting outside Nevada. Professional sports leagues claim that the information rightfully belongs to them and are looking to push data rights licensing which would require data operators to pay for using the information.
With Don Best in its arsenal, Scientific Games hopes to dodge most of the legal complications around data usage and copyrights.
Keith O’Loughlin of SG Digital said in a statement that deal is “a true win-win”.
The data operator already integrates with OpenBet – the online sports betting platform of Scientific Games. This will allow the transition to go practically undetected on the user side.
Expanding throughout the US
Securing Don Best will help Scientific Games step up to its recent partnership with Caesars Entertainment.
In July both companies announced their joint effort to put all American sports betting on the market. Previously, most of the tech solutions came from Europe and especially the UK, since they have been running sports betting for quite some time already.
NJ sports betting is huge right now, so Scientific getting involved with a big name like Caesars will certainly put them on the map.
Caesars has three casinos in Atlantic City, two of which have already launched sportsbooks by William Hill – Harrah’s and Bally’s.
Caesars also runs two properties in Mississipi, which have been accepting sports bets for about two months – Harrah’s Gulf Coast in Biloxi and Horseshoe Tunica.
Scientific will likely provide the technology to run all sportsbooks as well as Caesars’ online operations.
SG Digital also runs sports betting operations in Delaware, spreading the company’s reach over three states.
It looks like the company is making all the right moves and securing its place among the top data companies for the sports betting industry.