Lottoland makes €76m bid for ZEAL’s lottery betting operations

Online lottery betting operator Lottoland has made a bid to acquire rival ZEAL Network’s core business unit.

On Friday, Lottoland Holdings made an all-cash offer of between €60m-€76m for ZEAL’s German-facing ‘secondary lottery’ unit Tipp24.com, which provides the bulk of ZEAL’s overall revenue. Lottoland also seeks Tipp24’s customer base, intellectual property and infrastructure assets, as well as the UK Tipp24 Services Ltd subsidiary.

Zeal published a statement Friday rejecting Lottoland’s offer on the grounds that the offer “would strip ZEAL of its most valuable asset and the basis for future brokerage growth in Germany, while leaving ZEAL and its shareholders with considerable downside risks.” ZEAL CEO Helmut Becker claimed Lottoland was attempting to buy Tipp24 “on the cheap.”

Earlier this week, Lottoland signaled its intention to bid for “certain assets” of ZEAL, while simultaneously urging ZEAL shareholders to reject ZEAL’s proposal to reacquire lottery brokerage Lotto24, a former subsidiary that was spun off into a standalone business in 2012.