Former Seven West Media boss Tim Worner has been tapped for the BlueBet board as the group moves ahead with its initial public offering plans.
Mr Worner ran the Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven West Media from 2013 to 2019 and is believed to be working on a number of start-ups and other projects around the market.
The well-known television veteran was behind the launch of Seven West’s highly successful Racing.com free-to-air television channel, which was a partnership between Racing Victoria and Seven.
The company chaired by its owner and founder, the sport and racing bookmaker Michael Sullivan, hopes to hit the boards around late June and has tapped Ord Minnett and Morgans for its float.
Meetings with investors are taking place this week as part of a non-deal roadshow ahead of a management roadshow expected to get underway in late May.
BlueBet is a profitable online sportsbook operation founded by Mr Sullivan in 2015 and investors will be told that the debt free company has sustainable growth and strong margins.
It has at least 80,000 registered customers, 25,000 of which were active last year.
The funds raised from the listing will help to grow its Australian operations and enter the United States sports wagering market.
Based out of Sydney’s Randwick, SportsBet offers betting on all Australian and international racing and sport products, with all major bet types, including Same Game Multis, Same Race Multis and in-play betting.
The technology has been used previously by major Australian and US market players.
Revenue has increased 63 per cent in the past year to $267m last year, as the number of bets placed surged in the last three months of 2020.
Currently, its share of the online wagering market is 0.6 per cent.
It comes as shares in online rival PointsBet have been surging amid the pandemic.
Based on the PointsBet multiple, the understanding is that Mr Sullivan could achieve a valuation of about $170m for the business.
Mr Sullivan was previously the chief executive of Sportingbet and Centrebet, which were the biggest bookmakers in Australia of their time.
Sportingbet was sold to William Hill for about $700m almost seven years ago and Mr Sullivan later started BlueBet with the members of his original team
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