I'm here today to describe and discuss the subject of Casino Brokerage: a brokerage of casinos and online casino affiliate website. So let's break it down into simple terms: what is brokerage and how can a broker help you to buy or sell a website in an online casino business.
First of all, a business brokerage gives you a good way to decide on many things if you actually have little or no experience with selling businesses in the past.
By analogy with estate agents, this means that you hire someone who can help you to:
- firstly, value your property,
- secondly market it or attract potential buyers securing the right price (because there's always room for negotiation) and overall to
- make sure that the deal goes smooth and legal, and that you finally get paid.
So this estate agent analogy that you all know works well here too because, unless you are not a professional buyer or seller you really need someone with the expertise, the touch and the connections to make it happen.
What casino brokers do when selling your online business?
Valuation of a casino or affiliate site
The first thing I mentioned is valuation, because when you come up with an idea to sell, for example, your affiliate site, you need to know how much it costs.
Likewise, the professional valuation regards a multiplier on your earnings as well as other factors, for example, website traffic as well as parameters of your domains and so on.
Most of the time it requires a professional eye to see how much potentially your website costs. So that's the first step, but it is of immense importance, because once valued you may decide whether or not to sell it at all and then, how much you can go up or down in real negotiations.
So, once the valuation is done, what's next?
Marketing or locating of buyers
The next step is the actual selling. Casino brokers are the people who have actual connections in the market. They would normally have their website where the offers (listings) would go, they may also have some LinkedIn and YouTube coverage and some private connections that can help you speed up your sales process so that it actually increase the likelihood of a sale.
If your website is not very well known or the best in class, that means actually finding your buyer and making things happen.
So, let's say they have found you a potential buyer, what's next?
Buyers' qualification
The next step is for the casino broker to have an eye to tell if this person has money or if he/she is just bluffing. Especially in this market or when it comes to gambling, people would not always have the money or some of them would try to buy your website or your business with the borrowed money and so on. All right, so these bluffers have been withdrawn, and as a broker I know that, for example, this is a potential buyer.
OK. What's next?
Negotiating or deal making
Next is the actual deal making. When we have the valuation it doesn't actually mean that you can sell your site for this particular price.
Instead, it means that in the negotiation process we will try to get you the deal you know you can get.
The process and negotiation is probably the most important point when it comes to the effect or the value of your casino brokerage is realised.
So you cannot really do this on your own because most of the time
like I said, you don't have that
- experience in the market
- an eye for things
- you don't know how and to what extent your business is complementary to a buyer's business, which means you can get the highest price.
So most of the time the broker would charge up to up to five per cent of the
of the sale price and with proper valuation and the right negotiating strategy, you won't even even notice it.
All right, let's say we've negotiated, we've got this deal... What's next?
Due diligence support
After that we have to be clear about the terms of the contract and before the contract is signed, most of the time there will be a procedure called 'due diligence'.
So the buyer would do all this when the price is more or less settled, the buyer would go for due diligence and here you may also need a broker because the broker would facilitate the due diligence on your side. Similarly, when the preliminary documents are assigned so that we are clear on price & terms, then he/she (the buyer) would go through your papers and your data and so on.
This is more or less confidential information and this is called 'due diligence', but you need a sort of translator, intermediary between you and the buyer to make it go smoothly.
Contract advice
When everything that needs to be done has hopefully been done successfully, and we have signed the papers and everyone gets their share of the money or property and that is when you pay your broker. Sometimes the broker may have a retainer for certain procedures and so on.
So let's sum it up.
What are the advantages for you (as a seller) to use a casino broker?
The benefits are clear.
- Firstly, it increases the likelihood of your property actually being sold.
- Secondly, you ensure that everything in the transaction goes smoothly.
- Finally, a business broker usually knows all the markets, all the potential buyers and sellers, and may be able to get you a fair price and the best terms for the deal.
- Also, as I said, a casino broker can do a pre-screening and separate the serious buyers with money from the guys who want to bluff.
Can you effectively sell a casino site yourself?
Yes, of course you can do things (or some things) by yourself, but it's hard to find a real buyer by yourself (unless you want to write to everyone and that takes time too). Also, it's really hard to value your business and negotiate the price. You probably cannot skip this part because the broker may have an immense input into this stage of the process.
And finally, let's discuss how it works on the other side (the buyer's side).
Advantages of using a casino broker on the buyer's side.
A buyer may also be interested in using an agent, especially in circumstances where some properties are 'off market', i.e. they are not listed for sale and you (as the potential buyer) would give the broker a list of your requirements and the broker would go on to screen & identify the market opportunities that are not visible on the market and start the first stage of negotiations.
This is really interesting for buyers (and sellers alike). Also the person who wants to buy a gambling site may also be interested in hiring a casino broker when there's a particular stage of negotiation because the more competent people there are around the table the better. Sometimes you just need a second pair of eyes.
If you have any questions for me or need my advice or services you can also find my email here on this site.
