The global betting and gaming industry is no stranger to mergers and acquisitions, and neither was 2025. With under a week left until 2026 is upon us, SBC News takes a look at the biggest M&A deals of the past year.
Another big year for Flutter
You can’t talk about M&A without talking about Flutter Entertainment, arguably the biggest player in the space each year, every year. Barely a year has gone by in the 2020s that Flutter hasn’t closed an acquisition in another new market.
The past year saw two. In May, it completed its purchase of a 56% stake in NSX, the operator of Brazil’s popular Betnacional sportsbook. This would become the foundation for Flutter Brazil, the company’s Brazil-focused sports betting proposition, encompassing Betnacional, Betfair and PokerStars.
Closer to its founding market in Europe, Flutter closed the takeover of Snaitech, an Italian bookmaker, doubling its foothold in the country to two operators – the other being Sisal, purchased way back in 2021 and integrated in 2022.
Both acquisitions could prove critical to Flutter, particularly as the increase in UK taxes from next year will likely hit the some $800m-$900m it makes from the UK and Ireland each quarter hard.
Italy is widely regarded as one of Europe’s most favourable tax regimes while it is also the continent’s second biggest regulated betting market. Meanwhile, Brazil continues to grow, and Flutter stated at the time of the NSX buyout that it expects revenue of at least $200m from its Brazil division by the end of 2025.
Allwyn enters the big leagues?
Similar to Flutter, Allwyn also doubled up this year. The international lottery operator secured two huge deals which shot its market cap and global reach up several rungs, while also securing a stake in a burgeoning new sector in the process.
Firstly, back in September the company paid $1.6bn to acquire a 62.3% in PrizePicks in a deal which valued the daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform at $2.5bn. The deal was Allwyn’s biggest M&A to date, and a serious power play by the company in the US.
Perhaps more significant was what PrizePicks did next. The company secured some regulatory approvals to begin getting in on the burgeoning predictions markets scene in the US – a space that has also caught the attention of Flutter Entertainment and, more recently, the UK betting exchange Matchbook.
Acquiring a controlling stake in PrizePicks could prove to be the biggest step forward for Allwyn as it looks to further diversify its product range with stakes in sports, sports betting and gaming, with lottery remaining its lead product.
As stated above though, this was not Allwyn’s only move this year. The company followed it up with a merger deal with OPAP, one of Greece’s biggest betting companies and operator of that nation’s National Lottery, further adding to its market cap.
Intralot’s new groove
One of the biggest iGaming companies to emerge from Greece, Intralot has built up a considerable footprint over the years with a presence across Europe and both North and South America.
This year, the company took its international reach a step further with the acquisition of Bally’s Interactive, the international B2B arm of Bally’s Corporation.
The deal had shades of a merger, with Bally’s CEO, Robeson Reeves, stepping in as Intralot CEO towards the end of the year, while the American betting, gaming and entertainment conglomerate also secured a stake in the Greek lottery solutions firm.
“We like our profile, huge cash flow, rapidly de-levering, and additive to both our lottery and gaming capabilities,” Reeves told SBC News shortly after the acquisition announcement.
“In FY24 alone, the combined entity generated €416m in EBITDA, with over 90% free cash flow conversion. That kind of strength gives us flexibility to pursue growth—including M&A—in a disciplined way.”
Sportradar’s rocky road to data dominance
Last but not least, we come to one of the biggest sports business stories of the year with big implications for the betting and gaming space – Sportradar’s acquisition of IMG Arena, the data rights division of IMG.
Announced in March, the deal was completed in November with Sportradar taking IMG Arena off the hands of Endeavor Group, the owner of the UFC and WWE via its management of TKO Holdings.
The deal significantly expands Sportradar’s already considerable reach in sports data, as the Swiss-based international sportstech company adds tournaments like Major League Soccer (MLS), Wimbledon, the PGA Tour and WTA Tour to its data rights roster.
This was not an entirely smooth process, however, with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opening an investigation to ensure the merger completed in accordance with the country’s competition laws – ultimately green lighting it.