Sportingbet owner GVC ready to play new hand

Bookmakers beware: Kenny Alexander, the head of Sportingbet and partypoker owner GVC Holdings is coming for you.

GVC snapped up Bwin.partygaming for £1.1 billion two years ago and pumped marketing investment into the Bwin betting site and partypoker, whose ambassadors include tennis legend Boris Becker.

Daily gaming revenues for the first half of 2017 are up 10% on last year, despite the lack of a major international football tournament to boost betting takings this summer.

GVC is keenly awaiting the outcome of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s triennial review into the bookmaking industry, which could slash stakes on controversial betting machines to as low as £2.

The review is likely to trigger a fresh wave of consolidation in an industry bulking up to weather higher taxes and regulation while online betting eclipses the high street.

Alexander said: “We will be watching [the review] with interest. We have built the business on the back of M&A and our market capitalisation is bigger than that of William Hill and Ladbrokes.

"We have created a lot of value for shareholders and if we think we can do it again through M&A we would not hesitate to explore it.”