An Extraordinary Turn of Events When Entrepreneur Raises Investment Ask | Dragons' Den

[Music] hello my name's Steve Ellis from the nuts polka League I'm looking for 50,000 pound for 20% equity format is really simple I run a poker league it complies fully with UK legislation both the gaming and licensing and we put poker into pubs it's free to play and it's tournament format players play for points at the end of a three month period all of the players in the top 10 of each pub play each other in the regional finals that's where the sponsorship comes in we've attracted interest from some very big corporate names who are prepared to put big prizes up for the number of players whether we have currently we're at sixteen hundred and twenty two players from a small base up in Wrexham in North Wales we've great reputation we show people AG really good night out and it's something different from your normal karaoke your pool he adapts your dominoes your quizzes and the rest of it Steve Bellis wants 50,000 pounds of investment to transform his Wrexham based pub poker League into a national concern he's offering 20% of his business in return Stephen hi hi I'm Richard sorry just to get the name nuts poker they're not spoken League s as in it naturally at the pub no no in poker terms the nuts is the very best possible hand you can have given the cards that are actually on the table so if you've got the nuts you're virtually unbeatable okay and it's called the nuts let's go over nuts oh yeah I'm just trying to understand exactly what you've got you're in the organizer of a competition I recruit agents who go out there and earn a few quid each night by put taking the equipment out there so they're like the hosts they're there they they ensure that the players receive the top quality level of a tournament poker that you would expect to see in a casino and the puppies happy because they're selling a lot of drinks quality right and you collect from the pub for organizing that the agents do that okay lots poor colleague charges the landlord three pound per player that actually registers in place the deal is split 50-50 the agent keeps 50% of the takings and passed the rest on to the knots poker League and how much money are you taking the not spoke a league is actually netted eleven thousand pounds since November just peanuts the Dragons may have warmed to Steve's enthusiasm hood profits of just 11,000 pounds have not impressed them Deborah Medan has concerns of her own Steve hi I'm Deborah but what about the breweries presumably they got a vested interest to sell more beer oh yes they have more drink yes we've actually done a a charity night for John Smith's and Foster's and they were very interested but they have a big tie-in but Ladbrokes can I just pick you up on that yes if this if this does well why don't lie Brooks why wouldn't they just do the labyrinth I believe that's a question for them they haven't got someone like me to run it for them for a start but you would consider that a possibility that could happen this is two small potatoes for them to really get involved with they find it very difficult to make decisions all this investment small potatoes to 400 million pound profit company pub poker it's not what they focus in on any pub in the land could do exactly what you're doing they can indeed you have no edge this is not a business you've seen Paul leagues we've seen all these things set up this is good that's probably what it is by far as a business opportunity not the nuts okay Steven I couldn't take your money anyway I'd be stupid to actually accept money from someone who thinks it's going to fail but that's not why I'm here I think you're a good fun and I think there's lots of pubs in the land that will uptake this there's absolutely no question they make money out of it you or an investor no I'm out grazie Peter Jones doesn't think the business will ever make serious profits and he's out but casino owner Duncan Bannatyne has years of experience in this area and suspects the other dragon may be wrong in his assessment how secured are you with the name they're not spoke earlier view registered that name yes so you get the limited company they're not spookily limited yes cote UK and calm yoculan UK and dokkan do not spookily good at UK yes but we use calm and then it's ad company you're looking for investment for yes of course and we've had fifty one thousand eight hundred not hits on the website it's proven very popular and that's growing it it really is growing quite a lot at the moment the other good thing about it is as well is when we put a banner from an online gaming company on there people click on there they are prepared to give the not spoke a leaked twenty seven and a half percent of the rake for every game that those players play in that could be massive this is a revelation from steve gaming companies take a rake or fee from anyone playing poker online and steve has secured deals guaranteeing him a substantial share of this fee for every player introduced via his own busy website suddenly the four remaining dragons can all sense a real opportunity I love your enthusiasm I love your confidence when you you're taking flak you know and you're holding it you seem to have a good business mind I think pokers are a good sector and you're coming in at a different angle than the internet so maybe this this something hasn't been tapped into like the fact you've had 50,000 hits on your website which is phenomenal what I can't get my head around is it's just a completely unprotected business you could quickly be swamped so I'll tell you where I'm at they'll probably be prepared to put in half I don't know what I can't get my head around what percentage but you know if you get if you convince someone like Duncan who's an expert in the sector then you might get something I'm going to say where I am you have listened to you and it's great listening to you and and I do think that you have a couple of valuable websites out yeah but I think that there's just so many people who copy this and you can do something similar and do anyways the potential upside I think should weigh that way it's if you're in the casino business yeah this is probably the best gamble you'll see for quite some time yeah I don't actually see a ceiling on the upside actually that is one about it yeah but I do see a lot of aggravation and problems in it let's cut to the chase let's cut six years let's suppose and I said well I'll see it I will also go up twenty five thousand of the money that you're looking for which reaches twenty five thousand farm but for my twenty five thousand pound I want twenty five percent of the equity assume Richard would want the same so that means we would want 50% of their quitted for fifty thousand pounds mm-hmm you were looking for an answer yeah no Steve's confidence hasn't wavered and he's dismissed the offer out of hand but Duncan Bannatyne knows this could be a highly profitable business and is not prepared to let the deal slip away do you want to know do you want to come back with something higher than 20% I'm happy to negotiate equity if you're happy to negotiate price okay let's do that twenty-five thousand pound for forty percent in an extraordinary twist Steve has actually raised the amount of investment he's asking for 275 thousand pounds from his original 50 this is a first in the den but Steve is still operating within the rules how will the Dragons react I don't think at that level I'd be happy with some input from someone that can actually achieve the goals of the note spoke all you get is capable of achieving this can be an absolute massive business there isn't there isn't I mean part of me thinks this is just like organizing of darts competition at the pub you know is it really worth the amount of money you're talking about so how'd I do question whether I'm doing with our nuts is yeah yeah that's right I can see something there but I wouldn't I wouldn't get too excited if I were you well I've seen the growth that we've actually achieved from nothing up until where we are today yeah the growth I know what we must be achieve see anybody you know so really what I'm invested in is you butyl excuses mm-hmm and the fight you would go ahead with us yes okay so I'm going to make you my final offer and it's not negotiable okay okay so it's a ticket a leave offer I'll give you thirty thousand pound for twenty percent of the equity and do you have one as well splitting hairs really and yeah these are new tactics in the den Duncan Bannatyne and Richard Farley have made Steve a combined final offer of 60 thousand pounds for 40% of his company the two other dragons are still in will either of them enter into a bidding war for a stake in Steve's poker business what you need to make your whole business attractive is you need people playing the poker and hitting your website and that's where all the if that's absolutely what it's about yes it is so I think what I would be prepared to do is match that offer 20% of the business for 30,000 pounds but what I would say to you is I'm very strong in the pub field and the brewery field and that's the end that's the angle I think you need quickly to get into Deborah Medan is offering the same deal but thinks her expertise in the pub and bar markets means Steve should choose her before Richard Farley or Duncan Bannatyne now Theo Paphitis is ready to show his hand what bothers you about the offer that Duncan and Richard have put forward and that I'm going to cheap and I don't believe that the nuts poker League is cheap absolutely well I'll give you 32 and a half thousand for 20% and if they do the other 32 and a half you at 65,000 for 40% and their expertise yeah what is very attractive about that if you have contacts within the licensing industry when that's oh and that's what I understand absolutely I know what those who owns what brands yeah well I do that's exactly what I'm yeah yeah so I would I'd be prepared to but I do that there yeah I do that in an attempt to steal the deal Theo Paphitis and Deborah Medan have improved on their rival dragons offer it's decision time for Steve okay by far the biggest advantage I think is with you guys not simply because if it's an extra five thousand pound dog that I said more of an irrelevant really it's the expertise and a bit of enthusiasm that can be brought to the nut spoke earlier that's an unbeatable team that we can actually leave all together do you know much be a tight sale per week nope not even no idea not a clue reminder breweries I deal with no no you have no clue because you didn't ask you just assumed because Deborah said Susan Bob with breweries mm-hmm that we had not do a breweries okay okay my opinion of you has just dropped to the floor now so I'd be very grateful if you would take their offer now it's the best offer financially mm-hmm tiller offer Steve has blown it with Duncan Bannatyne who's shot Richard Farley by throwing the deal away leaving Steve with only one choice will he accept Theo Paphitis and Deborah maidens offer or leave the den empty-handed yes I'll accept the offer Steve has done it he's got his investment from Deborah Medan and Theo Paphitis and he's achieved to Dragons Den first walking away with 15,000 pounds more than he came for I have I have a gaming license I have a huge turnover from the brewery and he selects you is that cuz you're prettier than me Steve I'm glad you're a poker player it must have come in useful there I'm happy to negotiate equity if you're happy to negotiate price the deal though you've given away quite a lot more equity I have but I believe that the help that they're prepared to give you to drive it forward that is the cake relative to the actual money you're making at the moment they're paying quite a lot for that those shares aren't they poker it's becoming so big now there is a massive interest there is a massive demand and I think they were very lucky up there to get a yes from me today today we look forward I believe so as well as myself I think we were all look if you hike yes well done thank you very much [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: Dragons' Den

Views: 694,922

Rating: 4.8573804 out of 5

Keywords: dragons den, dragons den uk, evan davis, deborah meaden, peter jones, touker suleyman, tej lalvani, business pitching, entrepreneur, game show, shark tank, dragons, den, best, bits, new, worst, pitches, funniest, moments, most, shocking, ideas, products, businesses, dragons den funny, dragons den 2018, dragons den season 16, dragons den best pitch, peter jones dragons den

Id: X0gChG7JojQ

Length: 13min 37sec (817 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 07 2019