Hot Features
Premium
Trade like a pro: Leverage real-time discussions and market-moving ideas to outperform.
The global iGaming market continues to grow with each passing year, fuelled by jurisdictions like some US states regulating the scene and others becoming increasingly connected to the internet, as is the case in India. Amidst its rise to the estimated market size of around $59.6 billion in 2020 has been a tremendous amount of consolidation between some of the industry’s biggest names.
Perhaps the most significant, particularly when it comes to recognisable names among the gambling public, has been that of Evolution Gaming purchasing NetEnt. In the online gambling industry, it was major headline news, seeing one of the brands long-associated with top-class slot games snapped up by the ever-surging brand that popularly spearheaded live casino gaming.
It’s a statement of intent for the formerly channelled gambling company, and the sign of some savvy moves by the storied gambling entertainment provider.
Evolution acquires and integrates NetEnt
On 24 June 2020, it was announced that the Evolution Gaming Group (AB) had made a public offer to NetEnt AB’s shareholders, offering to purchase all NetEnt shares. In exchange, the NetEnt shareholders would receive 0.1306 of Evolution Gaming shares for each NetEnt share sold. Valued at approximately $2.1 billion, the deal saw Evolution acquire unlisted series A shares and the series B shares via Nasdaq Stockholm.
On 16 November 2020, competition approval was secured by Evolution Gaming to permit the completion of its proposed offer to acquire NetEnt. This approval came following the September clearance granted by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, with the UK Competition and Markets Authority following suit around one month later. At the time of competition approval from the UK, STO:EVO was up 2.16 percent, while STO:NET-B was also up by 2.37 percent.
The first day of December 2020 saw the settlement commence, following the offer being declared unconditional on 23 November. As such, NetEnt moved to delist its shares on Nasdaq Stockholm, with the exchange giving a final date of 16 December. In the meantime, Evolution Gaming commenced integration procedures, commencing a total reorganisation of the storied gambling company, with Evolution management taking over operational responsibilities.
By Q1 of 2021, the transition is expected to take a huge step forward, with residing NetEnt CEO Therese Hillman departing after months of supporting the integration of NetEnt into Evolution. The process will also see Evolution Gaming quash one of its live casino competitors, with NetEnt’s live casino division being shut down in accordance with the initial offer’s aims for company synergy. It marks a wider streamlining of the business which will be seen across the board, per the outlined synergy goals.
Evolution expanding across the iGaming space
Evolution Gaming has helped to revolutionise the iGaming space, with its live casino games – which incorporate live streaming technology to offer authentic gaming – becoming a near-necessity of online casino platforms. Their games library commenced with table classics like roulette but has since developed into also offering novelties like live gambling game shows. Now, the company will seek to break into the largest space of iGaming, slots, through a brand with immense name recognition.
NetEnt was founded way back in 1996, a mere two years after the first online casino went live. They were a market leader, setting up shop in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Krakow, Kyiv, Sofia, Gibraltar, Malta, and New Jersey, USA. They rose to notoriety as one of the early big-hitters, rising in prestige with a quick pivot to mobile optimisation and pop-culture themes. Now, Evolution Gaming will streamline its slots creation process.
How this will affect new comers to the industry is yet to be established. However, as so many of their existing games are so highly rated by reviewers, such as Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Starburst, Hall of Gods, and Blood Suckers, it seems likely that most will still encounter NetEnt classics and big-hitters when looking for top-class slots. This is particularly true of the games made by the NetEnt-owned developer Red Tiger Gaming.
Hailed by some as the reason why Evolution Gaming went big on reeling in NetEnt, Red Tiger have been one of the hottest studios in iGaming for the last few years. Their innovative features, aesthetically-pleasing designs, and overall variety of products have caught on across online casinos, with NetEnt snapping up the slots studio for £220 million in September 2019.
NetEnt, a pioneer of online casino gaming, had seen continued year-on-year tumbles in its quarterlies and a thinning share price for a while. Then, the RTG acquisition saw its share price jump by 30 percent in seven days, climbing upwards from the company’s five-year low.
Now Evolution Gaming, founded in 2006, will take both the historic and the hot slot developer under its banner to have a foot in revolutionary table gaming and modern slots.
