Z Capital Partners will purchase horse-racing media company Daily Racing Form according to Bloomberg News.
The private equity arm of Z Capital Group is acquiring the business from lenders after a restructuring process, Jim Zenni, the alternative-asset manager’s founder told Bloomberg.
The deal is being characterized as a bet on the future of online gambling in the U.S. The Daily Racing Form has been available to betters for more than a century and now includes digital data offerings and takes online bets on races. It sells about 5 million copies of its publication annually and drew 72 million bets on its platform in 2016, up 15 percent from the year prior, Zenni told the news service. Daily Racing Form’s gambling product is operated by Xpressbet LLC.
The group is buying Daily Racing Form’s parent company, Sports Information Group LLC, for less than $100 million, Bloomberg said citing unnamed sources.
Zenni said Z Capital can improve the publication’s digital footprint and user interface while using the online betting platform to possibly expand into other sports if such wagers are legalized.
“We can make the digital offering better and the business will grow, and we’re in the great position where if that online market opened we could take advantage of it,” Zenni said. “This company has potential to be one of the first movers in online gaming for all sports.”
Zenni also said that the company feels there is a growth opportunity within horse racing, which is expected to be a $10.7 billion industry in 2017.
In February Z Capital Partners completed a purchase of Las Vegas-based Affinity Gaming in a deal that valued the casino owner at $580 million. At the time Affinity Gaming owned 11 casinos, including five in Nevada.
