With the ever growing popularity of online bingo, 2019 saw some truly monumental moves being made within the industry.
From new companies striking out looking to make an impact all the way to acquisitions made by established players, the state of online bingo has changed considerably over the last year or so.
In this article we will take an in depth look at some of the major bingo acquisitions of the past year. As bingo online grows in its appeal, some of the world’s largest gambling companies are making forays into this once neglected sector of igaming.
Certainly, one of the larger moves made by an established gambling company was the acquisition of online bingo brands from the JPJ group by industry giant 888 Holdings. The £18m acquisition included that of Costa Bingo, which 888 hopes will bolster the brand’s profile in the UK online bingo market.
888 Chief Executive Itai Pazner stated that the move, which was completed in February of this year, was an example of 888 Holdings following through on its strategy of acquiring value boosting groups to help deliver on a policy of increased organic growth across global regulated markets.
Another major event in online bingo came with the acquisition of Stride Gaming by the Rank Group in a monster £115.3m deal. In May, the London-based company acquired the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Stride at 151 pence per share.
Stride stated their primary reasons for accepting the deal stemmed from fears surrounding the mounting regulatory and fiscal pressures on the UK gaming sector and the impact these have on investor decisions.
Recently, the Rank Group posted a strong quarterly revenue growth with the London listed company reporting a ten percent increase in net gaming revenue. Whether or not this was bolstered by the acquisition of Stride can not be said for certain yet the figures seem to indicate a correlation between the events.
Although in recent years there have been numerous challenges posed to the growth of online bingo, the sector continues to see an increase in value. Indeed, online bingo operators have managed to traverse economic slumps and regulatory changes with great skill, much more in fact than many other sectors in igaming such as roulette or slots.
One of the main reasons for this success is the fact that online bingo has managed to replicate the highly communal style of gameplay that people loved so much about the bingo hall. These days, features such as live chat hosts, live caller games, entertaining content and challenges boost player investment. This had led to social media becoming a key hunting ground for those who play online bingo, with this becoming a vital marketing space for online bingo.
The online gambling sector is a fast paced and dynamic one that always provides ample opportunities for exciting new brands with a fresh take on this classic game. The fact that big brands are continuing to merge with and acquire new, up and coming games speaks volumes to the fact that igaming continues to be one of the most exciting and fertile online sectors of all in 2019.
