Key points:
– Reeves will continue as CEO of Bally's, heading an even larger organisation following £2.32bn ($3.18bn) merger with Intralot
– Lottery expert Intralot returns to mainstream headlines following relatively quiet period
– Reeves highlights unique lottery and iGaming combination, as well as emphasising data and 'understanding the player'
This industry never sleeps.
While many were travelling to the iGB Live trade show in London, and others were already at networking events to kick off the event, Intralot and Bally's were busy announcing a £2.32bn/€2.7bn/$3.19bn merger.
Gambling Insider immediately caught up with Robeson Reeves, CEO of Bally's Corporation and Bally's Intralot – who will be spearheading this new gaming giant – to find out more.
Talk us through the structure of this deal; will it be mainly Bally's or Intralot – and what will your exact role be?
I will be CEO of Bally's Corporation and I will be CEO of Bally's Intralot. They're two separate entities. Bally's Intralot will maintain its listing on the Athens Stock Exchange and become one of the largest companies on that exchange, and Bally's Corp will remain on the New York Stock Exchange.
My original job at Bally's was President of Interactive, then I became CEO and maintained my remit over Interactive.
Tell us about negotiations; from an objective point of view, Intralot has been quiet in terms of mainstream headlines for some time... and now this huge deal is announced.
Well, I find the combination of Intralot and Bally's International Interactive just a perfect combo, because you've got iGaming and lottery. No one else has that in the world. No one has that combination and we've already looked at our technology stacks independently through normal dialogues, just understanding how they could fit together. They're very complementary.
Technology, data and understanding the player, that's always going to hold you in good stead
You'll know some background to Bally's and see that we're very data-driven, very analytical, great marketing optimisers, hence have fantastic EBITDA margins. We can see our technology in the data space is very powerful for responsible gaming and reporting. We can see how we can augment the lottery technology business by providing that solution to lotteries, which would be unusual and a very unique capability to offer to various states and countries.
How do you reflect on your personal progress within the industry? As a relatively young executive who was only recently President of Bally's Interactive, you are going from strength to strength...
I don't know what to say! I've been in gaming since I graduated from University, worked through most roles across technology, product and marketing.
I moved on to the Board, relatively young at Gamesys. People should learn, people should grow and I feel very thankful for the opportunities I've been able to take part in; this is just another one I think. Technology, data and understanding the player, that's always going to hold you in good stead.
Does Bally's AU$300m (US$197m) deal to buy The Star Entertainment still stand and does it remain unaffected by this deal?
Yes, that goes ahead as planned. What's important to understand is this is a purchase of the interactive international business. Bally's Corp still holds all the casinos and resorts business across North America. That's where our properties sit and we have North America Interactive as well.
That's the company which is acquiring The Star, but this I want to focus totally on Bally's Intralot here. Just to give you a sense of the scale, as you said, it's a giant: €1.1bn in revenues, €416m of EBITDA in FY24.
We have consistently scaled this business; the free cash flow generation of this business is 95% plus, which is impressive anyway and the €416m I gave you is pre-synergy. There will be opportunities to leverage the best in class of our business and technology platforms.
