Las Vegas-based Sightline Payments, a technology provider for cashless and digital transactions in the gaming industry, said Wednesday that it had received a “strategic investment” from Searchlight Capital Partners.
Sightline did not disclose the amount or terms of the investment but said the transaction establishes a post-money valuation of $525 million for the company, which works with the gaming, lottery, sports betting, entertainment and hospitality industries.
Sightline also announced co-founder and CEO Kirk Sanford would retire and resign from the company’s board of directors. The current president of Sightline’s Americas Division, Joe Pappano, a payment industry veteran who joined the company in July, was named CEO.
Sightline Payments CEO Joe Pappano
Searchlight Capital, which is headquartered in New York with offices in London and Toronto, is a global private investment firm with more than $8 billion in assets under management.
Searchlight Capital Managing Director Christopher Cruz said the company has tremendous respect for the work Sightline Payments has accomplished in the past 10 years, citing its “breakthrough innovations” in payment technologies.
“The company is well-positioned to ride the secular trends of consumer demand for cashless and digital payments and significant end market expansion,” Cruz said.
Sightline currently serves gaming and entertainment operators in the U.S., including sports betting and casino operators. The company is focused on providing more than 60 programs in 39 states. Sports betting is currently live in 19 states and Washington D.C., with six states expected to launch next year.
The company believes the total addressable market for its payment solutions is $265 billion, considering the potential for the continued legalization of online gaming and sports betting and the return of the entertainment and hospitality industries once the COVID-19 pandemic has cleared.
Sightline officials said consumer preferences, responsible gaming initiatives, and a strong push for cashless solutions, driven by the pandemic, have accelerated the investment opportunity. Sightline has continued the development and installation of its Play+ platform, which is utilized in digital payments for the integrated resort and gaming industry.
Since 2019, the American Gaming Association has advocated for the casino industry to adopt cashless or digital payment solutions to help modernize the industry. In the past year, spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic, several changes have already taken place.
Regulators in Nevada and Pennsylvania have approved new rules to permit digital payments in their casinos, and New Jersey, Indiana, and Iowa are expected to follow suit. In the past week, two tribal casinos have announced plans to offer digital wallets to their customers.
Pappano brought more than 30 years of payment processing and financial technology experience to Sightline. He had been WorldPay Solution Senior Vice President and Managing Director since 1991, when the company was known as Vantiv.
“Sightline is undergoing an exciting and important transformation, and Joe will be an incredible leader, a fierce customer advocate, and is an industry powerhouse,” Sanford said in a statement. “I am confident in his ability to deliver truly phenomenal business performance.”
Two of Sightline’s other co-founders – Chief Operation Officer Tom Sears and Chief Technology Officer Omer Sattar – will continue in their current roles.
“Searchlight Capital is a first-class firm that values and respects those who built the company and whose capital, strategic guidance, and operational support will help create considerable long-term value,” Sanford said.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
