SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Online gambling group 888 Holdings has completed its previously announced £18m takeover of number of JPJ Group brands, which include Costa Bingo, City Bingo and Sing Bingo.
In February, 888 agreed to acquire a number of digital bingo brands from the Jet Management Group and Jet Media, which form the basis of the Mandalay operating unit.
As a result of the finalisation, 888 owns a variety of brands that appear on JPJ’s Dragonfish platform. The deal was made via a cash consideration of £12m given to JPJ group upon the completion of the deal, followed by a further £6m to be paid in September of this year.
Itai Pazner, 888 Holding’s new Chief Executive, said that the new deal will further strengthen the group’s position in the UK online bingo market.
At the time of the acquisition announcement, Pazner commented: “The group continues to deliver its stated strategy of expanding across global regulated markets.
“This expansion is underpinned by organic growth initiatives supported by exploring value-enhancing M&A.
“Having been developed on Dragonfish, the Group’s first-class B2B platform, we are confident that consolidating these brands into our existing B2C portfolio will deliver synergies and growth opportunities by applying the full extent of 888’s core capabilities in product, marketing and customer relationship management to their operations.”
Announced as part of the group’s full year 2018 results yesterday, 888’s bingo operations brought revenues of $32.4m, a 17 per cent decrease from the previous year’s $39.3m, with full year figures recovering due to a strong casino and sport performance.
