Wynn Resorts has announced the termination of a previously planned merger between its online gaming arm, Wynn Interactive Ltd, and Austerlitz Acquisition Corporation.
The merger between Wynn’s interactive business and special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) had been revealed in May, with the newly formed Wynn Interactive Ltd to be listed on the NASDAQ. Wynn Resorts President Craig Billings had also been tapped to lead the online entity before last week’s major announcement that he would return to Wynn Resorts as CEO in 2022 following the departure of Matt Maddox.
In a statement explaining the decision not to merge Wynn Interactive, Billings said, “With our continued roll out of product features and planned new state launches, including New York, we remain excited about WynnBET’s future.
“As we discussed on the Wynn Resorts Limited third quarter earnings conference call [last week], in light of elevated marketing and promotional spend in the sports betting industry, we are pivoting our user acquisition efforts to a more targeted ROI-focused strategy. In so doing, we expect the capital intensity of the business to decline meaningfully beginning in the first quarter of 2022. WynnBET’s best days lie ahead of us.”
Termination of the merger agreement will also allow Billings and the Wynn Resorts board to maintain direct control over online operations once he returns as CEO in February.
