Entain and BetCity owners settle after long dispute
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15 Nov 2024 •
Reading time: 2 minutes British gambling company Entain and the previous owners of Dutch gambling company BetCity have finally reached a settlement in their long-running dispute. The details remain secret, but Entain did confirm that they have settled the matter, without further payment or hassle in the future.
This finally brings an end to an issue that began in December 2023 and has been in the news for a long time.
In December, Entain decided to go to court because they felt that the BetCity owners had not been honest during the takeover. According to Entain, they had not disclosed that the Gaming Authority had started investigations into BetCity. This caused bad blood, and a legal battle with accusations on both sides ensued.
BetCity owners file counterclaim
The former owners of BetCity felt that their reputation was seriously affected and also filed a complaint against Entain. They claim that Entain did indeed know about the investigations. And it didn’t stop there: according to them, Entain also made adjustments to BetCity’s business operations, which led to lower revenues.
They were quite angry about this, because this happened precisely during the period in which they were still entitled to a share of the turnover. That last point only fueled the fire in the battle.
No preliminary hearing, but a settlement
It seemed that a long process would follow, with a first preliminary hearing scheduled for the end of October. But instead of waiting for that hearing, both parties decided to continue negotiating in silence. At the beginning of November, they suddenly announced that a settlement had been reached.
Entain later confirmed this to CasinoNieuws.nl:
“Entain has resolved its dispute with the sellers of BetCity. We cannot say anything about the terms of the settlement. The settlement resolves all disputes relating to the takeover of BetCity. Entain is not required to make any future payments under the transaction documentation.”
In the official documents, a so-called Tomlin Order, it was agreed that both parties would not provide any further information about the settlement amount. With that, the case is closed, and nothing more will be announced about this matter.