SIS acquires virtual sports supplier 49’s from GVC & William Hill

Sports Info Services (SIS) has recently announced they are taking full ownership of lotto & virtual sports supplier 49’s from the current owners GVC Holdings and William Hill.

This new acquisition will expand SIS’s portfolio by offering 49’s products such as Irish Lotto Bet, World Lotto, and virtual horse racing games from Portman Park, Sprint Valley, and Steepledowns. Further, the deal will also include virtual greyhound racing from Brushwood and Millersfield. This is all alongside the new games that SIS is developing to add to 49’s portfolio.

SIS chief executive Richard Ames was delighted with the deal and discussed it further in a press release:

49’s has a long history of supplying high quality, market-leading content to UK and Irish bookmakers and the product range is much loved by consumers. Over recent years, SIS has successfully extended the brand worldwide and it makes perfect sense to now take the further step of acquiring the business. We have great plans for the brands and will announce shortly a range of new and extended products as part of SIS’ numbers product strategy.

49’s chairman Mike Jones added:

We’ve worked in partnership with SIS for the last 20 years and they are uniquely positioned to be able to further expand the 49’s brand internationally. We look forward to seeing how they build on the excellent work the team has done over the last few years to position 49’s as a leading numbers product.

GVC Holdings plc shares were trading up 1.80 percent at 756.20 pence per share in London on Tuesday morning, while shares in William Hill plc were trading up 1.81 percent at 121.00 pence per share.

SIS is bouncing back from quarantine with multiple expansions

This new deal involving 49’s is only the latest in a long line of deals that SIS has attained as the firm looks to start operating at pre-lockdown levels once again. Catalyst Media (who own 20.5% of SIS) report that SIS is returning to pre-lockdown levels with staff going to back to work throughout June and July.

From the 29th of June, SIS will operate 640 greyhound races a week in the UK which follows a nationwide trend for the sport that has returned to normal much like most major soccer leagues across Europe. They have also begun operating in Ireland with seven courses now open.

SIS has also expanded its horse racing portfolio due to agreements with Czech horse racing operator LAB, and Kincsem Park, the home of Hungarian horse racing. The deal effectively means that the firm becomes the exclusive distributor of live pictures and data of horse races in the two countries, including at least 300 races per year from two of Czechia’s biggest racecourses, and 265 races from Hungary’s Kincsem Park.

SIS is further widening its scope by announcing its first competitive gaming e-sports product with bet365. The solution will include features such as live-streamed matches, commentary, embedded betting triggers & range of markets on e-sports, including titles such as NBA 2K.