MultiChoice Bets Big with $81m BetKing Deal

MultiChoice, Africa’s biggest pay-TV operator, has acquired a 20% stake in BetKing, a pan-African sports betting group.

As part of the deal, MultiChoice has made an made an upfront investment of $81 million with the potential for a further payment of $31 million should certain earn-out targets be met between December 2021 and December 2023.

“Sports betting is an interesting market that is aligned to our pay-TV business,” said Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice CEO in an interview.

“We have a lot of sport on our platform, and many people that are betting watch more games.” he said.

DStv packages include live English soccer, while MultiChoice agreed to a deal with Walt Disney earlier this year to add two ESPN channels showing US pursuits such as basketball.

Sports betting is an interesting market that is aligned to our pay-TV business… BetKing plans to be pan-African and will be entering South Africa at some stage, too

BetKing started in Nigeria and has shown rapid growth over the past two-and-a-half years, according to the CEO.

“They plan to be pan-African and will be entering South Africa at some stage, too,” he said.