Providing a whole host of gaming solutions

Boyd Gaming has revealed that it is buying online gaming tech company Pala Interactive for $170m.

a combination of cash and an existing credit agreement

The casino company announced on Monday that its Boyd Interactive Gaming subsidiary will complete the acquisition. It expects to close the deal by the first quarter of next year, financed through a combination of cash and an existing credit agreement.

Pala Interactive provides proprietary social gaming and real money gaming solutions in North America. It covers business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) offerings.

The company had adjusted earnings of about $5m last year. Pala currently provides B2B services in eight North American markets, as well as operating B2C platforms in Canada and New Jersey.

Welcoming the acquisition

In a Monday statement, Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith said the acquisition marks the next phase of the company’s iGaming strategy, adding that the deal provides it with “full control over the technology, development, and customer experience.”

He also outlined the benefits of integrating its online casinos with the company’s land-based casinos. Smith believes that the integration will allow it to further monetize and leverage its existing customer database for both types of operations.

The Pala Band of Mission Indians is the majority owner of Pala Interactive. Commenting on Pala’s performance to date, the body’s chairman Robert Smith said: “We brought together the best minds in the business to build and ultimately transact, what has become a very successful business.”

Some change on the way

Boyd is steadily growing its reach in North America’s gambling market. It currently has online sportsbooks operational in six states, as well as online casinos in two states and social gaming platforms. These online operations generated adjusted earnings of $24m last year. The Las Vegas-based company also has 28 land-based gaming properties across ten US states.

plans to migrate the Stardust operations to an in-house team

The Pala acquisition is not going to impact Boyd’s sports betting agreement with FanDuel. Boyd has a 5% stake in FanDuel, which runs online casinos for Boyd Gaming in New Jersey and Pennsylvania through the Stardust Casino brand. However, Boyd Gaming now plans to migrate the Stardust operations to an in-house team.