Zeal Network, the German online lottery broker, has agreed to acquire the remaining 96.5% of shares in UK prize draw platform operator SevenCanyon.
The company already held a minority 3.5% stake in SevenCanyon, making this deal a significant escalation of its existing relationship with the business.
The transaction comprises an approximate cash payment of £33.8m, subject to post-completion adjustments, plus further payments of up to £4.8m over a six-month period contingent on hitting certain financial targets.
Zeal intends to finance the acquisition with a €40m term loan, giving the company a clear and structured path to completing the purchase.
Once finalised, the deal would grant Zeal immediate access to what it described as Europe’s largest digital prize draw market, which is worth around £1.3bn.
SevenCanyon operates several well-known UK prize draw brands, including 7days Performance, Redline Competitions, and UK Carp Competitions, offering prizes ranging from houses and cars to lifestyle products.
For the financial year ending March 2026, SevenCanyon generated EBITDA of more than £10m, underscoring its status as a scaled and profitable business.
Zeal expects the acquisition to be EBITDA-accretive, forecasting a positive contribution in the high single-digit millions of euros during the first full financial year following completion.
CFO Andrea Behrendt confirmed that Zeal has already established a new UK holding company to support the transaction, signalling the deal could close in the near term.
The founders of SevenCanyon will remain with the company for only six months after completion, with Alex Green, currently vice president of games at Zeal, already appointed as successor.
Zeal CEO Stefan Tweraser described the acquisition as a logical continuation of the company’s long-term diversification strategy rather than an opportunistic move.
“With the acquisition, we are consistently pursuing our strategy of selectively diversifying our business model through the development of new business areas and tapping into new markets,” Tweraser said.
Tweraser emphasised that the UK prize draw sector represented a substantial growth opportunity given the market’s scale and fragmentation across more than 400 operators.
“SevenCanyon is already a scaled, profitable and cash-generating business,” he said. “We don’t carry a build risk; we are acquiring a proven and profitable business.”
Tweraser also outlined his expectation that regulatory standards in the UK prize draw sector will tighten over time, favouring professional operators with strong compliance capabilities.
“We expect that the UK market will move towards a more formalised, rule-based setup,” he said. “Rising standards favour operators with strong compliance capability and market expertise.”
In November, more than 20 UK prize draw operators signed up to a government-led voluntary code of conduct aimed at improving transparency and player protections across the sector.
New guidelines introduced under that code included a £250 monthly cap on credit card entries for prize draws and a blanket ban on credit card entries for all instant-win competitions.
The broader prize draw sector has attracted significant investment interest recently, with Australian digital lottery specialist Jumbo Interactive completing its acquisition of US prize draw operator Dream Giveaway in October last year.
Winvia Entertainment, majority owned by Playtech founder Teddy Sagi, also announced plans in October 2025 to seek admission to trading on AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s growth market, further highlighting the sector’s rising profile.
