Bank Letters of Credit
In the normal course of business, the Company provides standby letters of credit or other guarantee instruments to certain parties initiated by either the Company or its subsidiaries. The Company has bank guarantees with Barclays Bank PLC totaling approximately $40.9 million outstanding as of December 31, 2020.
The Company has not recorded any liability in connection with these bank guarantee arrangements. Based on historical experience and information currently available, the Company does not believe it will be required to make any payments under the bank guarantee arrangements. The Company has recorded $0.8 million, $0.7 million, $0.1 million, and $0.1 million in interest expense in the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (Successor), the period from September 8, 2018 through December 31, 2018 (Successor), and the period from January 1, 2018 through September 7, 2018 (Predecessor), respectively.
Note 18. Employee Benefit Plan
The Company operates a defined contribution plan for its employees. This plan is a qualified retirement savings plan under which the Company pays fixed contributions. The Company’s contributions were $0.8 million, $0.9 million, $0.2 million, and $0.4 million in the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (Successor), the period from September 8, 2018 through December 31, 2018 (Successor), and the period from January 1, 2018 through September 7, 2018 (Predecessor), respectively.
Note 19. Related Party Transactions
The Company extended a $4.1 million loan to one of its executives on September 7, 2018. See Note 1—Financial Assets for discussion on executive notes receivable.
On September 7, 2018 and during September and December of 2019, the Company issued Investor Loan Notes to Apax and other shareholders. See Note 9—Debt.
On December 8, 2020, certain investment funds affiliated with Apax entered into a Related Party Loan agreement with a subsidiary of the Company. See Note 9—Debt.
The Company made payments of $0.2 million, $0.2 million, $0.1 million, and $0.1 million to Carbon Group Limited in respect to consultancy services provided by a director and shareholder of the Company for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (Successor), the period from September 8, 2018 through December 31, 2018 (Successor), and the period from January 1, 2018 through September 7, 2018 (Predecessor), respectively.
Certain investment funds affiliated with Apax have provided the Company with a commitment letter in support of a guarantee issued by the Company to Barclays Bank PLC in connection with a letter of credit that Barclays provided to Football DataCo Limited for and on behalf of the Company for an aggregate amount of up to £30,000,000 (approximately $40.9 million as of December 31, 2020) (the “Commitment Letter”), upon the occurrence of certain events. See Note 17—Commitments and Contingencies.
Note 20. Subsequent Events
In preparing the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 (Successor), the Company has evaluated subsequent events through April 16, 2021, which is the date the consolidated financial statements were issued.
NFL License Agreement
On April 1, 2021, the Company announced a new multi-year strategic partnership with NFL Enterprises LLC (“NFL”) (the “License Agreement”). Under the terms of the License Agreement, the Company obtains the right to serve as the worldwide exclusive distributor of NFL official data to the global regulated sports betting
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