Betsson to purchase NordicBet

Betsson have just announced that they have come to terms to buy the Nordic Gaming Group (“NGG”).  NGG operate three gambling properties, Triobet, Tobet and the flagship, NordicBet all of which are licensed in Malta, and all of which currently offer live games … more on that below.

The purchase will cost Betsson €65 million, comprising 60 million in cash plus 5 million in Betsson stock and representing a multiple of around 6 times NGG’s EBIT for the last year. The cash and shares will find its way into the hands of a bunch of current owners including the company’s founders, staff and some outside investors once the purchase is complete.

NGG’s operation comes with around 90,000 active players (mainly from Nordic and Baltic regions) and 185 new highly qualified staff members which apparently Betsson see as a bit of a bonus given they were on a recruiting drive. Of course there are plenty of other synergies – what would any takeover be without synergies…or at least a very liberal use of the word in the corporate press releases?

In this case, a big synergy being spruiked by management is the integration of technology platforms & supplier agreements. This poses the question of what Betsson will do with NGG’s current live games supplier, Microgaming (not Inversiones Destino Caliente, S.A. in Costa Rica as indicated on NordicBet’s live dealer page…typo?). Do they ditch the Microgaming powered games and migrate NGG players across to their Evolution Gaming powered live casino, or do they do what quite a few of the major operators are now doing, and run dual platforms to give customers more live casino games variety?

In the near term this decision will no doubt be constrained by existing license agreements, but beyond that hopefully they opt for the multiple platforms option. More game variations, more tables, more dealers, more features, more fun!

NordicBet currently running Microgaming Diamond Edition live games

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