The online casino industry is constantly growing and evolving, giving players more games and opportunities.
The Betsson Group is one of the leaders in the online gambling industry and on a mission to be the best in most online casino markets.
To further strengthen its position in the online casino market, the Betsson Group recently acquired the Gaming Innovation Group’s (GiG) business to consumer (B2C) operations.
Betsson acquires leading brands
GiG is no stranger to the industry and is responsible for leading online casino brands loved by many across the globe. Player favourites such as Guts , Kaboo, Rizk and Thrills are all online casinos created and previously operated by GiG.
With the recent acquisition agreement, these brands are now run by Betsson. All of these brands are legally licensed to operate in Malta, UK, Sweden and Germany. And in the near future, Rizk Casino will be awarded a license to operate in Spain and Croatia.
The acquisition is a Share Purchase Agreement which allows Betsson to become a long term partner of GiG, allowing them to generate revenues from GiG’s Platform Services. According to the agreement, Betsson will pay €31 million of which €22.3 million will be a cash payment and €8.7 million a prepaid platform fee . GiG will use these funds to repay the Company’s 2017 - 2020 SEK 300 million bond.
The newly acquired brands will be kept operational on GiG’s platform for a minimum of 30 months. During the first 24 months, Betsson will pay a premium platform fee based on the NGR generated. According to the expected platform fees, the total estimate of the transaction comes down to approximately €50 million .
Great opportunity for consolidation
The Chief Executive Officer of Betsson AB, Pontus Lindwall, stated that the deal is a great one and a good opportunity for them to consolidate, create synergies and apply their core B2C skills and marketing insights to fully bring out the full potential of these assets.
Lindwall is confident that the agreement with GiG will further strengthen and expand Betsson’s outreach and growth potential for their proprietary sportsbook and payments platforms in the B2B markets.
It’s well-known that Betsson has invested a lot in the development of their sportsbook which now delivers a powerful offering . One of their key strategies currently is to grow their sportsbook with B2B customers which will be even easier with GiG as a distribution channel.
A long term focus
For GiG, the new partnership has multiple upsides according to the Chief Executive Officer, Richard Brown. The first being that it puts the company in a financially sustainable position and the second that it gives them the ability to focus on where they see long term shareholder value.
Brown states that the transaction serves as a strategic focusing of the company’s efforts towards the B2B segment. While it was great offering both B2C and B2B services in the past there have been some conflicts in the two business areas thanks to increased complexity in the market. These difficulties and struggles to focus on one has lessened their potential offerings on both fronts as well as the potential to sign new customers.
Thanks to the new partnership with Betsson, GiG can focus all their time and energy on the B2B segment.
The acquisition enables both companies to dedicate their time and energy to what matters including expanding their reach in dedicated markets. The planned integration of Betsson’s sportsbook on the GiG platform will be one of the highlights of the year for both companies and customers.