Iron Phoenix

About Iron Phoenix

The deal is expected to provide around €115 million of pre-tax cash synergies per year from opex and interest cost savings. These synergies are expected to be realised by the third full year following completion.

Angelozzi is set to serve as the combined company’s chairman and CEO, while Lottomatica’s deputy CEO and CFO Laurence Van Lancker will assume the same role.

Hostench and Cirsa CFO Antonio Grau will also continue to lead the teams at Cirsa.

What is Iron Phoenix?

“Our focus has always been on providing our customers with reliable technology, deep expertise and long-term partnership, said Torrejón and Gábor.  

“Joining OpenBet gives us the opportunity to build on that foundation as part of one of the world’s leading sportsbook businesses. For our customers, it brings the additional scale, capabilities and product portfolio of OpenBet, while maintaining the specialist knowledge and continuity they value today.”

Last year, OpenBet completed its management buyout in a $450 million deal that saw CEO Jordan Levin and other senior executives take control over the platform business from Endeavor. 

How to play Iron Phoenix

Strip away the language of contracts, order books and event trading and Bernard Marantelli has a blunt description of what is happening inside US sports prediction markets. “Kalshi is a sportsbook that’s just not allowed to have an in-house risk team,” says the founder of White Swan Data, one of the specialist firms now making markets on prediction exchanges.

The difference is all about the risk function. A sportsbook employs traders to price bets and manage its exposure. An exchange provides an API through which firms compete to quote prices and supply liquidity.

“Here’s an API. Bernard and 88 other people can market-make all these request-for-quotes (RFQs),” Marantelli says. “Some people might come in and just do esports because they’re esports experts. Others do everything. Some focus on same-game parlays. But it’s a sportsbook.”