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LET BATTLE COMMENCE Tim Poole looks into the effects of heated industry rivalries, while assessing the potential of this competition inadvertently leading to M&A
David McLeish Everyone loves a rivalry. Ali vs Frazier, Red Sox vs Yankees, Alien vs Predator. Classic rivalries stand out amid a sea of regularity. Ask a Tottenham Hotspur footballer how they’ll prepare for a Premier League match and they’ll utter the bog-standard cliché “we take it one game at a time”. Until they face Arsenal, when months of pent-up emotion – and in many cases hatred – rise to the surface for a fixture singled out above all others on the calendar. The intensity of a rivalry is not just restricted to London derbies, nor sport itself. The Cold War fascinates many historians, while the political fundamentals
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behind USA vs USSR stem from a very basic rivalry in itself: capitalism vs communism. In the current climate, political life exudes bitter rivalry every day: left vs right, Brexit vs remain, Donald Trump supporters vs the rest of the world. In business, and gaming in particular, things are no different. A land-based casino in the US, however, will have little reason to declare a turf war against a sports betting supplier based in Eastern Europe, but two UK-based sports betting operators competing for the same target market are far likelier to tread on each other’s toes. This is a hypothetical example but, at
Gambling Insider, we’ve seen true stories over the years of companies with such heated relationships they have refused to sit at the same table at awards ceremonies. Provided there are no underhand tactics or overzealous personal grudges, is intense competition between rivals a bad thing? The best tennis players in history will remember their greatest rivals and how much they raised their game for them; they may not even remember some of their other career opponents. Former prime ministers and presidents often owe their biggest adversaries debts of gratitude when they reflect on their tenures. Unless a rivalry
