Jumbo Interactive Limited is pleased to announce that its acquisition of StarVale Group in the UK has been approved by the UK Gambling Commission.

The transaction was announced to the ASX on 27 January 2022 is anticipated for 1 November 2022 subject to the satisfaction of the closing deliverables under the terms of the Share Purchase agreement.

The move aligns with the Brisbane-based company’s strategy to scale its managed services and software-as-a-service (SaaS) business segments, as it follows the purchases of Canada-based Stride Management in August 2021 and UK-based Gatherwell in November 2019.

The purchase will be funded via Jumbo’s $50 million senior debt facility, with the remaining $20 million to be used for future acquisitions and growth initiatives.

“We identified StarVale as one of our top acquisition opportunities in the UK given their scale and leadership position in the charity lottery market, strong brands, cultural alignment with Jumbo, and their talented leadership team,” says Jumbo Interactive CEO and founder Mike Veverka.

“The acquisition helps accelerate our strategy to grow internationally and adds significantly more scale to our Managed Services business in the UK.”

Based in Lancaster, StarVale operates a range of society lottery services (weekly lottery and raffle) and prize draw services and will provide Jumbo access to more than 850,000 lottery players across 45 charities and not-for-profit organisations.