Eddie Jordan and Keith O’Loughlin cycle regularly together in Monaco and are long-time friends. And it is that friendship that has seen the two Irish men – one a flamboyant former Formula One boss, the other a gaming and tech veteran – to come together for a potential $4 billion deal.

Through their investment vehicle, JKO Capital, Jordan and O’Loughlin have been scouring for deals in the entertainment and gambling sectors. As first revealed by The Currency, the two men came together for a $1 billion bid for Openbet, the sports betting wing of Scientific Games, the $6.2 billion-valued US gambling business.

They eventually withdrew from the process, but they are now eyeing up an even bigger deal: The gambling technology group Playtech. Playtech has confirmed that JKO Play Limited had approached its board on November 5 to seek “access to certain due diligence information” ahead of a possible offer for the business.

The approach puts Jordan and O’Loughlin in competition with Playtech’s second-biggest shareholder Gopher and Australian slot machine developer Aristocrat to buy the UK company.

O’Loughlin told The Currency: “I have been a customer, a partner and a competitor of Playtech since 2011, and I have admiration and regard for the business.” He added that his consortium wanted to invest in the business, and not simply draw down profits from it.

The pair are understood to be looking at other potential deals also and are open to making acquisitions in small and mid-sized companies within technology, entertainment and gaming. However, the Playtech bid is top of their agenda at present.

Global Leisure Partners, a merchant banking boutique, is advising the consortium that includes JKO Capital. It is working with a US-based investor, Centerbridge Partners, on financing an offer for the company. They are also in talks with a number of other potential backers, and are comfortable they can access the $4 billion required to acquire Playtech, which claims to be the world’s largest supplier of online gaming and sports betting software.

O’Loughlin brings the technology and gambling experience to the deal. He was previously CEO for Boylesports Online where he dramatically grew the business. He then moved to Gibraltar and was the driving force behind Coral until its merger with Ladbrokes. Interestingly, he is a former CTO of Dermot Desmond’s Intuition Publishing and the business won many global awards for tech innovation under his watch.

He was executive vice president with OpenBet Ltd, before it was sold to SGMS by the NYX Gaming Group in 2018. He has led the sports betting business for Scientific Gaming following the acquisition and was the driver behind its transformation and foray into the US. He left earlier this year when his interest in acquiring the business with Jordan became public.

Jordan, meanwhile, is bringing his marketing and brand experience to the deal, as well as his considerable book of business contacts. Jordan is currently part of the award-winning C4/Whisper TV team’s hugely successful coverage of Formula 1, and, over the years, has had many varied and diverse business interests including property investments in New York, London and Europe – both commercial and residential.

He has also had interests in property development, publishing/radio, and other investments including Celtic Football Club, golf clubs, vodka and energy drinks. In addition, he has been a member of the advisory board to Citi Private Bank, and a board member of Oyster and a partner of the hedge fund Clareville Capital.

January chequered flag

Any deal will be complex and must be ratified by Playtech shareholders on January 12. For Jordan and O’Loughlin, that day represents the chequered flag. The company came into play last month when Playtech accepted a 680p-a-share bid from Aristocrat, an Australian company.

It then confirmed that Gopher Investments, its second-biggest shareholder, was also evaluating a bid.

The sports betting industry is red hot right now, and the sector has seen a deluge of major corporate deals this year, including most notably in the UK the takeover of William Hill by Caesars Entertainment, with its British operations subsequently acquired by 888, the London-listed group.

Valuations of sports betting technology companies are very high at the moment. A lot of these valuations are being benchmarked against a company called DraftKings.

DraftKings is one of the two main fantasy sports apps in the US, the other being FanDuel (owned by the Flutter group). The fantasy sports apps suddenly got very important after the US Supreme Court ruled that states were entitled to allow betting on sports. Fantasy sports apps are the logical place from which to launch sports betting business since they already have tens of millions of young sports-mad users.

DraftKings launched on the stock market two years ago, in July of 2019. Since then, the stock has gone bananas. By March of this year, it had risen almost 700 per cent. Right now, it’s up 444 per cent from its IPO price.  There is talk of Flutter doing an IPO of its FanDuel subsidiary in the US also to capture some more value from the asset.

Flutter, which is headquartered in Clonskeagh in Dublin, made the genius move of buying the other big fantasy sports app, FanDuel and it is now Flutter’s trophy asset. But DraftKings’ share performance is so strong that investors have been pressuring Flutter to spin out FanDuel into a separate business. In March of this year, Flutter announced it would consider selling some of its FanDuel shares.

In the fast lane 

A Dubliner by birth, Eddie’s distinguished career in motorsport started behind the wheel but grew as the owner of Eddie Jordan Racing – later known as Jordan Grand Prix. He is widely respected by his peers and motorsport fans alike for his passion, success and unique style, particularly as a privateer.

His ability to spot and bring on young driver talent is legendary. He gave World Champions Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill their first drives in F3, and another World Champion, Michael Schumacher, his first drive in F1. Other winners followed: Ralf Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello. The team went on to finish third in the World Championship with Frentzen/Hill in 1999 after Jean Alesi and Johnny Herbert won the F3000 and F3 Championships respectively. Significantly, as many as seven ex- Jordan drivers also drove for Ferrari.

The altruistic side of Eddie Jordan is seen today in his various philanthropic interests, notably as patron of the child cancer charity, CLIC Sargent and The Amber Foundation for the young homeless. In addition, as a keen drummer, Eddie’s band – ‘Eddie & the Robbers’ – play at many charitable functions.

Further reading

Sean Keyes on investing: Flutter, The Athletic, and the value of a customer