OpenBet

The business was incorporated as Orbis Technology Ltd on 2 February 1996 by Clive Haworth, James Caddy and Charles Malir, and launched its first betting product, Betonline, in 1998. News Corporation's digital television arm NDS Group bought it in December 2000, by which point Ladbrokes and Paddy Power were live on the platform. In January 2011 management bought the company out with backing from Vitruvian Partners for GBP 208 million, having already renamed the company OpenBet in 2010 after its main platform. Vitruvian sold OpenBet to Canadian-listed NYX Gaming Group in 2016 for GBP 270 million, and Scientific Games agreed to acquire NYX in September 2017 and completed that acquisition on 5 January 2018 in a deal worth about CAD$775 million (roughly US$626 million); OpenBet was folded into Scientific Games' SG Digital division in 2018. Endeavor Group Holdings agreed on 28 September 2021 to buy OpenBet from Scientific Games for US$1.2 billion (US$1.0 billion cash plus US$200 million in Endeavor stock), but the deal was renegotiated and completed in September 2022 at approximately US$800 million. Endeavor then exited betting entirely: on 11 November 2024 it agreed to sell OpenBet to OB Global Holdings LLC, a management buyout vehicle led by chief executive Jordan Levin and backed by Endeavor chief executive Ariel Emanuel, and the sale completed on 24 March 2025 for approximately US$450 million (US$400 million cash and US$50 million deferred). The related IMG Arena sports data business was separately agreed for sale to Sportradar, with OB Global managing it until that deal closed. UK Companies House corroborates the rename chain on a single company number: 03134634 was incorporated on 6 December 1995 under the off-the-shelf name Rapidfirst Limited, became Orbis Technology Limited on 2 February 1996 — the date the business proper starts — and has been OpenBet Limited since 1 June 2010. It is still active at Building 6, Chiswick Park, 566 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5HR. Two sister companies carry the other lineages: OpenBet Retail Limited (02730742), incorporated 13 July 1992, and OpenBet Technologies Limited (06712030), incorporated 1 October 2008.