Unibet acquires Bingo.com RMG assets for £5m

Unibet has acquired the real-money online gambling business of Bingo.com in a deal worth US$8m (£5.25m).

The Stockholm-listed operator paid a cash sum of $2m and disposed of the 15 million shares it held in Bingo.com holding company Bingo.com Limited for a total sale price of $6m.

Unibet acquired a 26% stake in the business back in May 2010, with Bingo.com having operated as a Unibet white label on a revenue share agreement.

Bingo.com chief executive Jason Williams said the decision to sell its real-money gambling business came after the company found itself unable to compete with the industry’s more established companies.

“The online gambling industry as a whole is experiencing conditions of maturity where smaller firms are finding it increasingly difficult to compete,” Bingo.com CEO, Jason Williams, said.

“Bingo.com’s European gambling business, built with the bingo.com brand and URL, has therefore found it difficult to compete effectively with larger operators,” he added.

Bingo.com will now exclusively target the social casino sector following last year’s launch of its free-to-play bingo app Trophy Bingo which had been in development since June 2012.

“The $2m cash obtained from the sale of its online gambling business, in addition to the current cash on hand will enable the company to continue to finance the development and marketing of Trophy Bingo,” Williams said.

Trophy Bingo was first unveiled in August and features a map progression system similar to Candy Crush Saga with 120 different challenges.

Trophy Bingo was developed by Bingo.com subsidiary Shoal Media and the operator is to be subsequently renamed Shoal Games by the end of the month to reflect its change in strategy.