Unibet completes Bet24 acquisition
Purchase becomes operator's latest move to strengthen its position in regulated markets.
Unibet has completed the acquisition of rival Scandinavian operator Bet24 from Modern Times Group as it looks to challenge former monopoly Danske Spil’s market leading position.
Following the announcement of the deal last month, Unibet has now paid 80% of the 13.5m (£11.25m) acquisition price in cash, with the final 20% to be paid by the end of June. Bet24’s players will ultimately be migrated to Unibet’s platform and the site rebranded, but will remain on its current platform for an interim period.
Speaking at the time, Unibet CEO Henrik Tjarnström (pictured) told eGaming Review that the deal would allow Unibet to further strengthen its position in the Danish market: “We have had quite a strong position in Denmark, and over the last year we’ve been building up this position, so we were one of the top three operators by the time the market opened in January, and can become a major challenge to the Danish monopoly.
“Danske Spil would probably be up there as the number one operator in Denmark, but this deal allows us to close the gap on them. It represented the best value for money, and also gives us better scale to grow in in the territory,” he explained.
Bet24 becomes the third operator to be acquired by Unibet in the past six months, as it looks to strengthen its position in regulated markets across the world. It acquired EurosportBET owner Solfive in November last year, and Australian operator Betchoice for AU$20m in February.