Allwyn’s Digital CEO Reveals the Real Reason the Novibet Deal Collapsed, and What Comes Next

Key Points

• Allwyn Digital CEO Kresimir Spajic confirmed active M&A discussions are ongoing, but no deal is being forced to a deadline.
• The Novibet acquisition collapsed because regulatory remedies demanded by the Hellenic Competition Commission stripped the transaction of its value.
• Online NGR already accounts for 52% of Allwyn’s total NGR on a pro-forma basis including PrizePicks, making digital the group’s central growth engine.

Poolside in Marbella, Kresimir Spajic said something most executives in his position would package more carefully. Allwyn has more deals it wants to do, discussions are already under way, but the company is not going to rush any of them.

“We don’t feel that pressure, we want to do the right deal,” Spajic told iGB. “We want to do things which are accurate to what we are doing, and it will ultimately lead to our main objective of becoming the leading, global, digital entertainment company.”

Coming from an executive whose company spent $1.6 billion entering a single new market in the space of one announcement, that restraint carries weight.

The Man Behind Allwyn’s Digital Push

Spajic joined Allwyn in September 2025 as CEO of Allwyn Digital, a division built specifically to advance the group’s iGaming, sportsbook, and digital product capabilities. He arrived with over 20 years of industry experience, having led online gaming at Hard Rock International, served as president of iGaming at Great Canadian Entertainment, and spent three years running Betfred’s US operations before that business exited the American market entirely.

The draw, he says, was Allwyn’s founder. “The main reason why I’m here is Karel, because he sold me his vision and his story. He sees Allwyn as a digitally led entertainment company. [And] he doesn’t look only through the realm of gaming, but he wants to expand our industry, and especially our company outside of this.” That framing, entertainment company rather than gaming company, shapes the kind of assets Allwyn is actively hunting.

Two Billion-Dollar Moves in Twelve Months

Allwyn conducted two significant transactions one after another. Thus, in October 2025, it merged with the Greek lottery company OPAP and established a new company with a total value estimated at about €16 billion. Allwyn owns 78.5% of the new business, while OPAP retains 21.5%.

At the same time, in September 2025, Allwyn acquired a 62.3% share in US daily fantasy sports operator PrizePicks for an initial cash price of $1.6 billion, meaning an initial enterprise value of $2.5 billion, which may increase up to $4.15 billion depending on PrizePicks’ financial results in the next three years. For the period from July to June 2025, PrizePicks recorded adjusted EBITDA equal to $339 million and a 60% growth in income compared to the previous year.

The cumulative effect on Allwyn’s digital revenue mix is significant. Online NGR represented 37% of the group’s total in 2025. On a pro forma basis, accounting for PrizePicks and other interests, that share rises to 52%. Digital is no longer a secondary line in Allwyn’s accounts.

Why Novibet Was Always More Than a Greek Market Play?

Most coverage of the Novibet withdrawal treated it as a regulatory setback. Spajic’s comments make clear the strategic rationale was broader from the outset.

Originally in December 2024, Allwyn had agreed to take a 51% majority stake in Logflex MT Holding Limited, which is the holding company for Novibet. This deal involved a fee of €217 million with another €110 million in earnout contingent on the performance of Novibet. According to H2 Gambling Capital, Novibet had about 19-20% of the Greek licensed online sports betting market, making it the second largest operator in Greece.

This was not an acquisition purely driven by geographical location. “There were a couple of elements we were looking for,” said Spajic. “One definitely is technology, talent, but also market penetration in certain areas that they have.” In essence, this was a capability-driven and an access-based acquisition rather than one driven by geographical considerations.

Following extensive consideration, however, the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) expressed some reservations regarding the competitive implications of this proposed merger. Both parties made “carefully considered proposals,” according to Allwyn. However, the remedy sought from them by HCC was essentially a restructuring of the deal, which was no longer viable to Allwyn at all.

“In the end it didn’t work out,” Spajic said. “When you look at the way these deals should have been restructured, everything wouldn’t ultimately deliver the value that we expected for any of these parties.” Allwyn and Logflex made a joint decision to withdraw from the HCC review in March 2026, fifteen months after the deal was first announced. Any future transaction, iGB understands, would look substantially different from what was originally agreed.

Active Pipeline, No Forced Timeline

Spajic was clear that Allwyn’s M&A programme has not paused. Discussions are continuing across two distinct categories.

The first covers tuck-in acquisitions, companies that plug specific technical gaps or open access to markets that are early-stage or not yet fully regulated. The second is strategic: filling gaps in the group’s portfolio across verticals or geographies where Allwyn currently has limited presence. Novibet was being evaluated against both criteria simultaneously.

“I believe that we have one of the smartest investment teams in the industry, which is very, very focused on executing our strategy,” Spajic said. He acknowledged the sector’s underlying pressure to keep moving: “There is always an element of urgency in this industry, because you don’t want to become obsolete. We are not complacent.” The distinction Allwyn is drawing is between speed and selectivity.

Alongside inorganic activity, the group is also expanding its capabilities from within. “We are increasing our internal capabilities because we see growth coming from two parts,” Spajic said. “One is inorganic, which has been mostly the path of our company, but we’re also delivering on organic growth as well, by improving operational efficiencies and bringing these tackling capabilities.”

Expert Analysis

The Novibet exit delivered a lesson that applies well beyond Allwyn. Regulatory friction in gaming M&A has quietly become one of the sector’s most underestimated risks. Fifteen months of review, extensive remedy negotiations, and ultimately a joint withdrawal with nothing to show for it. The HCC process did not simply slow the deal down; it dismantled the financial logic behind it.

Allwyn is now absorbing the OPAP merger and the PrizePicks integration at the same time. Both are complex, cross-border transactions requiring operational alignment across different regulatory environments. Forcing another major acquisition into that environment, purely to maintain deal velocity, would be strategically reckless. Spajic’s measured tone reflects that reality rather than contradicting Allwyn’s ambitions.

The more important question for the industry is what Allwyn targets next. With digital revenue now the majority of its pro forma NGR and a leadership team that has demonstrated it can execute large transactions, the group’s next announced deal will signal whether the priority is technology, new geography, or something that extends Allwyn’s reach well beyond conventional gaming.