GiG selling casino brands to Betsson for €50 million

Friday 14th February 2020

The gaming company Gaming Innovation Group Inc (GiG) has agreed a deal to sell some of its casino brands to Betsson Group for an estimated €50 million.

The Share Purchase Agreement arranged between the two companies will see GiG sell brands like Rizk, Kaboo, Gutz and Thrills in order to repay a SEK300 million bond (€28.59 million) acquired for the period of 2017 and 2020.

The bulk of the transaction will involve a €31 million payment consisting of a €22.3 million cash payment for the initial acquisition and a further €8.7 million as a pre-paid platform fee, GiG said.

Betsson will keep these business-to-consumer brands operating for a minimum period of 30 months and generating revenues for GiG's platform services. It will also pay a premium platform fee on the net revenue generated from the brands, bringing the total cost of the transaction to approximately €50 million.

The announcement did not state whether the deal would lead to staffing changes.

Last month, GiG had acknowledged that it was going through a "strategic review" of its business but denied rumours that the company was downsizing its workforce or planned to leave Malta.

GiG said that this move is part of its strategic review that it carried out in November 2019. They say that it "will free up resources, enabling full dedication on driving and growing its B2B business, securing stable and sustainable earnings and profit margins."

"GiG has, as part of the strategic review, taken a decision to make its technical platform sportsbook agnostic, and partner with other sport book providers to offer the best solutions to its customers. Betsson's sportsbook solution is intended to be integrated on GiG's platform-offering.

"Both GiG and Betsson will gain strategic advantage in having the possibility to sell their respective B2B solutions in an environment without conflict of their own B2C brands," they added.