Ras Reckoning

About Ras Reckoning

Numbers have remained steady a year on, and in H1 this year, various markets were hailed as core growth drivers for the business, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain and the UK.

Meanwhile, cost-saving efforts have seen retail shops and operational roles cut this year. And the group has chosen to exit its CEE business and sell off a significant share.

In August newly appointed CFO Michael Snape said the move was expected to de-lever, unlock and return capital to shareholders.

How to play Ras Reckoning

But, as Robinson warns, the opportunity to enter Africa doesn’t come without challenges.

“It’s profitable, it’s growing and it was for sale from a distressed vendor,” he says. “That combination rarely appears in regulated Europe, where scaling a B2C brand means paying up for customers against Flutter and Entain on thin margins.

“Africa isn’t saturated, but I wouldn’t call it easy either. Betway and the local incumbents are well dug in. The difference is that you’re competing for a market that’s still forming, at a fraction of the acquisition cost, and the operating margin is there if you get the payments and the product right. The risk is regulatory and currency rather than competitive.”

How to play Ras Reckoning

U.S. Patent No. 12,406,284, which lists Commerce Secretary and former Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick as its primary inventor, covers geolocation technology commonly used in sports betting.

Geolocation services, which are typically purchased through third-party vendors, are used by sportsbook operators to ensure that their clients are placing wagers from jurisdictions in which sports wagering is legal.

“During prosecution, the Examiner did not apply the material prior art or straightforward combinations presented here, which render every challenged claim obvious,” according to a DraftKings filing with the patent office.