If you haven’t heard of Flutter, you’ve probably heard of one of their subsidiaries. Based in Ireland, Flutter Entertainment is one of the biggest gambling companies and the owner of hugely successful household names like Paddy Power, Betfair, SkyBet, and Poker Stars. Flutter has built a huge reputation for itself over the years and have steadily acquired an increasing number of their competitors along the way, allowing their company to flourish even more.
Flutter Taken over by Tombola
The latest company to find themselves in Flutter’s sites was Tombola. Tombola is one of the top bingo sites available in the UK and Flutter said in an interview that it had “long admired” the online bingo firm. Flutter agreed to buy Tombola for £402 million in order to add to their portfolio of already successful slots, sports gambling, and bingo companies.
Flutter’s acquisition of Tombola might not seem like huge news on the surface, but this sale points to the increasingly aggressive acquisitions that have taken over the gambling industry in the last few months.
Other Big Name Industry Takeovers
Just a few months ago Caesars Entertainment agreed to pay £2.9 billion to take over William Hill. The purchase of William Hill left Caesars Entertainment operating newly-legalized sports betting in 18 different jurisdictions in the US, while they expect to have 20 operational by the end of 2021. Just a few months later 888 agreed to buy the European side of the business from Caesars Entertainment for £2.2 billion. The European arm of the business includes 1400 William Hill betting shops in the UK. 888 estimates that they will save £100million each year by owning William Hill instead of paying royalties to them.
Acquisitions aren’t stopping at gambling companies either. One of the most high-profile deals being discussed at the moment is that of Australian gambling machine manufacturer Aristocrat making a big for online gaming software giant Playtech. The merger of the two companies could see a huge shakeup in the world of online gaming as well as in-store technology. While the two companies each have their focus in a specific area, this merger could see Playtech expanding into more territories and developing software using new technologies to accommodate Aristocrat’s in-person gaming. Streaming technology could allow for “hybrid” games, where online players are able to take part in in-store games and even lead to unique membership programs that reward players who visit both online and physical properties.
The Growing Trend of Company Takeovers
So, why are so many acquisitions happening? There are many reasons, but one of the biggest is because there has been such a huge growth within the gambling industry in the last few years. With so many people stuck at home with nowhere to spend their disposable income and nothing to do, they turned to online gaming. With this in mind, it is no wonder that so many betting companies reported record numbers of users accessing their platforms in 2020 and 2021. Of course, with such growth in numbers comes revenue growth and it is this increase in profit that will have first grabbed the attention of companies looking to take over others.
Now that lockdowns are mostly a thing of the past, gambling has remained popular as many people have formed a habit and as such, although growth may have steadied the industry as a whole is still seeing some amazing numbers.
Secondly, the recent legalization of sports betting in the US has seen a flurry of activity and a rush to be the first, biggest, and best provider of online gaming in the US. Companies like MGM that have operated on the Las Vegas strip for years stepped into the world of online gaming in partnership with William Hill to form the company MGMBet, taking advantage of their European counterpart’s experience from running online sports betting and casinos in the UK market.
The combination of more disposable income, fewer ways to spend free time and changes in legislation are all huge motivators when it comes to the rise of popularity in online casinos and gambling. With so many new people taking part in online gambling in 2020 there’s almost a gold rush in the gambling industry. This leads to huge companies like MGM and Flutter racing to buy up the competition to increase their own revenue and to increase their market share. These acquisitions are nothing new, but they’re likely to remain aggressive and fast for the foreseeable future.
The Future of iGaming
As an industry iGaming isn’t new, but the way it operates currently is. Online betting has never been so easy to access and it is this which is helping the industry to grow – and encouraging companies to make takeover bids and merge together their resources. Although no one can say for certain what the future of the iGaming industry looks like there is little chance that it will be disappearing anytime soon. As such, the potential for growth, takeovers, and even new companies launching is perhaps bigger than ever. With Cryptocurrency, live video games, and other features helping to make online entertainment both more accessible and much more fun the industry is constantly on the lookout for the best big thing that will capture the interest of customers.
Whether we’ll see any big-name takeovers in the very near future remains to be seen – the intentions of these companies are not usually announced until the deal is already in negotiations, as these companies generally play their cards very close to their chest. However, those within the industry would bet that there will likely be some takeovers and mergers within the industry, it is just impossible to say when and where. For customers this doesn’t need to be a bad thing, larger companies often have the funding and ability to offer more – so this could mean better games, bigger jackpots or larger joining bonuses; none of which is a big thing for those wanting to place a bet online.
