Has Pinnacle’s Owner Found A Route Into The US Sports Betting Market?


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Pinnacle owner Magnus Hedman may have found a way into the US sports betting market.

Hedman has acquired UK odds supplier Jasis Group for an undisclosed sum. He will use the acquisition to launch a new pricing and risk-management firm called 10star.

The new firm will focus on regulated markets, including the US.

What is the Jasis Group?

Jasis has a range of sports betting activities, including proprietary betting and trading, odds provision and a B2C tennis betting exchange.

The firm already provides tennis pricing to Pinnacle on a revenue-share basis, with the deal thought to be worth seven figures annually.

The company’s pricing prowess is widely admired. One source described Jasis as one of the largest tennis betting syndicates in the world. Another said they were probably “pound for pound, the most profitable syndicate across the betting exchanges.”

Existing Jasis directors Jonathan Gale and Aron White remain part of the new 10star business.

A path into the US for Pinnacle?

The deal potentially offers a route for Hedman into the B2B US betting market, with Pinnacle yet to announce any US entrance of its own.

Pinnacle previously suggested its B2B platform, Pinnacle Solutions, could be a way into the market, but no US partners have been announced. 

The Pinnacle brand could face pushback from US regulators thanks to its operations in the US pre-UIGEA and ongoing activity in some gray markets, including Asia.

Pinnacle said it was was not connected to the deal in any way, and Jasis would not be incorporated into the business.

The acquisition comes after Hedman sold off another of his gambling holdings, Sporting Solutions, to French firm FDJ in mid-2019.

What now for 10star?

Hedman will lead 10star as CEO and aims to roll out its product offerings to clients from the second quarter of 2021.

Hedman said:

“I have followed the success of the Jasis Group over the years and have seen the growth they have created with their unique approach to risk management. Few in the industry understand and successfully create models that are sustainable and have the efficiencies to consistently grow trading profits.

This is the first step in our long term vision that will ultimately fill a gap in the industry and provide true risk management, not the customary trading solution.”

Gale and White said the new company would become the “gold standard” for risk management.

“When Magnus shared his vision for 10star, we knew right away that we wanted to be part of it,” they said. “We have been quietly building a strong business on the back of our deep trading capabilities, and joining forces as 10star will allow our product offering to reach a larger market.”