6 Months After Roping In Shaq For Promotions, Wynn Is Reportedly Putting Its Sports Betting App On Sale At Steep Discount

Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) is reportedly selling its online sports betting unit Wynn Interactive at a steep discount.

What Happened: The Las Vegas-based casino company has cut the asking price of the WynnBet gaming app operator to $500 million, which is significantly lower than the $3 billion valuations arrived at less than a year ago, the New York Post reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The deeply-discounted sale is taking place just six months after Wynn publicly readied WynnBet for a spring debut, the Post noted.

Why It Matters: In August, it was reported that former basketball player Shaquille O'Neal would become WynnBet’s new brand ambassador.

At the time, it was reported that O’Neal would be selling his ownership stake in the Sacramento Kings to comply with National Basketball Association rules in order to promote WynnBet.

In November, Wynn Resorts and Bill Foley-owned special purpose acquisition company Austerlitz Acquisition Corp (NYSE: AUS) announced they had mutually agreed to terminate a previously announced merger plan.

At the time, Craig Billings, CEO of Wynn Interactive said, “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.”

Price Action: On Friday, Wynn Resorts shares traded 1.7% lower at $85.65 over 24 hours in the regular session. The shares fell 1.2% lower at $84.65 in the after-hours trading. 

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Photo: Courtesy of Ken Lund via Wikimedia