Sportech buys U.S. account-wagering provider

Sportech, the British gambling company that acquired the bet-processing business of Scientific Games Racing in 2010, has reached a deal to buy eBet Technologies, an account-wagering services provider, the company announced on Thursday.

eBet, which is licensed in Oregon, runs an account-wagering business that had handle of $106 million in the last fiscal year – well behind handle at the three largest U.S. account-wagering companies, twinspires.com, TVG, and XpressBet – and it also provides account-wagering services to racetracks. The price of the acquisition could run to $12.6 million “dependent on future performance,” Sportech said in a release.

Sportech’s acquisition of Scientific Games Racing in 2010 included off-track betting parlors in Connecticut. Earlier this month, Sportech was awarded an exclusive license to conduct account-wagering in the state. The company had earlier said that it expects to launch an account-wagering site in the state by April 2013, but the acquisition of eBet will likely accelerate those plans.

In the U.K., Sportech offers online gambling on sports, racing, and bingo. It took $13 billion in bets in the last fiscal year, the company said.