CMS advises on sale of Avid Gaming to Entain

International law firm CMS has advised the selling shareholder of Deis Ltd (Avid Gaming) on its CAD $300m sale to Entain plc (Entain), the leading global sports betting, gaming and interactive entertainment operator.

Avid Gaming owns Sports Interaction, Canada’s leading online sports betting brand. It is headquartered in Jersey (Channel Islands), with offices in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke and Ireland.

Avid Gaming exclusively licenses the Sports Interaction trademark and provides proprietary online betting and gaming products and services to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) and the Mohawk Online socioeconomic initiative. Mohawk Online, which is wholly-owned by the MCK, operates Sports Interaction in Canada.

Canada is a highly attractive and fast-growing sports betting and gaming market. Together with Entain’s application for an Ontario licence, this acquisition provides an excellent opportunity to drive further growth, in line with Entain’s growth and sustainability strategy. 

Will Golby, Avid Gaming’s CEO, along with other members of the leadership team, will transition to Entain.

Rob Willis, CMS Corporate partner, comments: “We are pleased to advise the Avid Gaming team on this strategic sale. The last few years have been an incredibly exciting time for the gaming space which has seen a boom in North America focussed M&A activity. There are strong synergies between Avid Gaming and Entain and we look forward to seeing Avid Gaming flourish in this new partnership.”

Will Golby, CEO at Avid Gaming, adds: “We are delighted to be joining forces with Entain, which is an exceptional company combining world-class brands, strong leadership and a winning strategy. We would like to thank the CMS team for their excellent support throughout this process. At every stage they have demonstrated their strong commercial acumen and deep sector understanding.”

The CMS team was led by Rob Willis assisted by Maximilian Weaver, Ian Mckie, Dylan Walter and Alexander Parkin (Corporate); Stephen Hignett and James Matthias (Tax); David Zeffman, Ben McLaughlin and Jessica Wilkinson (Gambling Regulatory); Amy Wilkinson (Litigation & Arbitration); Sarah Wright and Oscar Webb (IP); Ruth Derruau (Competition); Richard Long (Real Estate); Alistair Hill (Pensions); Ryan Whittaker (Restructuring & Insolvency); and Samantha Love (Employment).

The CMS team was supported by Fenech Farrugia Fiott in Malta and Carey Olsen in Jersey.