LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned that online gaming giant Playtech PLC (LON:PTEC) has made a decision to exit the binary options brokerage business.
The company’s binary options brand, TopOption, was sold effective August 7 to Leadtrade Ltd, an Israeli run and CySEC licensed company which operates several other binary options brokerage brands including OptionsClick (optionsclick.com), Prestige Option (prestigeoption.com), Excellence Option (excellenceoption.com), and Platinum Option (platiniumoption.com).
We understand from industry sources that very little money changed hands in the deal. It was more about Playtech quietly exiting the business and not alienating its clients at TopOption, some of whom also have Forex trading accounts with the company’s Markets.com brand.
A visit to TopOption’s website (see screenshot below) reveals a pop-up stating the following:
We wish to inform you that as of 7th August 2016 your trading account has been be migrated to Leadtrade Ltd (“LTL”).
Please note that your account will not be activated unless you accept all the Policies and Terms and Conditions of Leadtrade Ltd.
The change is part of an overall restructuring of Playtech’s Financial division, which Playtech acquired from its controlling shareholder Teddy Sagi in early 2015 for $225 million.
Playtech reported its First Half 2016 results last week which were very positive, other than the results from the Financial division which saw Revenues drop 37% following the aforementioned restructuring and jettisoning of IBs. The only mention Playtech made of its binary options business was to state that it was ‘moving away from binary options‘ as part of a greater restructuring at the Financial division. Interestingly, no specific mention was made of the sale of TopOption to Leadtrade.
It looks like Playtech’s Financial division will be focusing solely on the Retail Forex Markets.com brand for now. With the company moving from a salesperson based approach to automated funnels for customer acquisition, it should really come as no surprise that Playtech decided to exit Binary Options which typically require a much more hands-on and aggressive approach to sales and retention.
We would also note that this transaction marks a further consolidation in the Binary Options sector, in both the brokerage and platform sides of the industry. We reported last week that trading solutions provider Leverate is also exiting the binary options space, putting its BX8 binary options platform up for sale as it has been having trouble competing with bigger incumbents such as SpotOption and TechFinancials Inc (LON:TECH).
