Betfair pays $50M for TV Games Network
Electronic gambling company Betfair Group announced its purchase of TV Games Network — the official channel of the Thoroughbred Racing Association — for $50 million from Macrovision Solutions. The acquisition should give the U.K. company, which takes bets on the web and by phone, a solid presence in the racing business and the U.S. online gambling market.
Macrovision bought Santa Clara, Calif.-based TV Games Network from Gemstar-TV Guide last year and looked like it was going to sell to Churchill Downs Inc. before Betfair swooped in. Churchill already owns account-wagering sites Youbet.com and XpressBet. The network brought in $56.6 million in 2007, mostly in royalties from companies taking bets on tracks that contract exclusively with TVG — but most of these contracts are approaching expiration.
Betfair merged with rival company Flutter in 2002, drafting its investors Benchmark Capital, UBS Capital, Chase Episode I and Index Ventures. Since its founding in 1999, it has raised $700 million in capital, but it also brings in about $327.8 million in revenue a year.
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About the Author, Camille Ricketts
Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.