Take a chance on me
In the wake of mobile supplier Mobenga being acquired by Playtech, analyst Dawid Myslinski of Redye looks at which Swedish egaming company could be next.
Mobile betting software developer Mobenga is the latest Swedish online gaming company to go on export, having been acquired last week by Playtech for up to 23.8m.
The historical list includes poker network Ongame, bought by bwin in 2005 for around 470m, poker network, bingo and casino developer Boss Media, acquired by GTECH in 2008 for around 140m, and poker network Entraction, acquired this year by IGT for 77m. So are there any Swedish online gaming companies left up for grabs and are there any clues as to which are the next to go?
First of all, all of the above mentioned companies are developers and B2B-suppliers, as opposed to operators. This makes companies such as Betsson, Unibet, MrGreen, Nordic Bet and a tail of smaller operators less probable as acquisition targets. This conclusion is also supported by a list of all the mergers in this industry the last year, which makes it is clear that buyers prefer operators in regulated jurisdictions like Australia, the UK and land-based businesses in the US.
The Swedish operators are strong in the Nordics, where the authorities have a conservative view – with the exception of Denmark – on online gaming. Even though I find it less probable that the Swedish operators will be acquired by a foreign company in the near future, I do not rule out further “internal” Swedish or Nordic consolidation, along the line of the Betsafe acquisition by Betsson.
So, are there any interesting Swedish B2B-suppliers left out there? For sure, I would say. Listed casino software provider Net Entertainment boasts a customer list with 20-plus of Europe’s biggest operators. This is evidence enough to prove the company has a first-rate product that can compete with the likes of Microgaming and Playtech on any given day. Evolution Gaming delivers live streamed casino games like black jack and roulette and can match the client list of Net Entertainment. With the launch of casino table games in Italy, the people at Evolution are probably still celebrating as you read this.
If you think the 700 million people who play mahjong will eventually make the game a hit online then check out Mahjong Logic, claimed to be the only real money peer-to-peer mahjong solution in the market. And let’s not forget about Nyx Interactive and Jadestone, two companies with established pan-European positions.
Last but not least, check out InstaDeal Poker Network, as far as I know the only poker network to provide a substitute to the recently shut down Rush Poker from Full Tilt. They have been off to a slow start this spring but if business picks up my bet is they will be the fourth Swedish poker network to go on export.