Swedish online gambling operator Cherry AB has boosted its growing affiliate business by acquiring Malta-based Moorgate Media Ltd.
On Monday, Cherry announced that it had paid €4m for Moorgate, which owns affiliate license agreements in cooperation with Web Resort. The acquisition, which Cherry believes will ultimately boost annual earnings by €1.2m, will begin contributing to Cherry’s bottom line as of Q1 2016.
Cherry also announced it had paid €750k to acquire the domain, customer database and operations of gambling site NorgesSpill.com. Cherry will pay €600k in Q1 with the remainder payable once Cherry migrates NorgesSpill to the Cherry platform. Cherry believes the NorgesSpill addition will boost annual earnings by €300k.
Cherry CEO Fredrik Burvall said the company was right chuffed to have bolted on still more appendages that it believes will help boost cash flow. Burvall also expressed confidence that Cherry would be able to further develop the NorgesSpill business following the migration.
Cherry has been on an expansionist tear in 2015, particularly on the affiliate front. In January, Cherry took a controlling interest in the Game Lounge Ltd affiliate business. In July, Cherry added Almor Holdings Ltd’s German-facing casino and sports betting brands. In August, Cherry (via Game Lounge) added a handful of Finnish affiliate domains.
Cherry also launched the SveaCasino white label brand in April as part of its new relationship with Game Lounge. The expanded business helped Cherry post a 55% gain in H1 revenue and the resulting boost in business could encourage Burvall to keep pushing the expansion envelope in 2016.
