Unibet is heading back to the French market after acquiring the Solfive Group, including SPS Betting France SAS, which operates in that country under the EuroSportBet and EuroSportPoker brands. Unibet made an upfront payment of €5.625m plus a net cash adjustment of €1.5m and will also settle Solfive debts totaling €2.375m. A further earn out may be forthcoming dependent on trading results in the first six months following the acquisition, which is subject to approval by French regulatory body ARJEL.
Unibet received one of the first French gaming licenses following the country’s market liberalization in 2010, but pulled out after publicly complaining that the onerous tax rates made doing (profitable) business in France impossible. So what’s changed? Unibet CEO Henrik Tjärnström admits that while short-term profits will be “difficult” under the current system, “we consider that over the medium term France will develop a more sustainable model that will better achieve the goals of player protection, fair competition and reasonable taxation.” How’s that line go… Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…
Fresh off a licensing deal with 66mahjong.com, online P2P mahjong software specialist Mahjong Logic has inked a similar pact with Bodog88, the Bodog brand’s Asian-facing licensee. Mahjong Logic CEO Jonas Alm said he was tickled to have come to terms with “a well recognized brand which has always been cutting edge and ahead of the curve when it comes to online gaming.” Stressing that “having mahjong is an absolute must for us in this region,” Bodog88 MD Robert Gustafsson claimed a long and hard analysis of the offerings out there confirmed that the Isle of Man-licensed Mahjong Logic was the “perfect partner” to help Bodog88 realize its goals.
With a new chairman on board, sports betting data supplier BetGenius has inked a product licensing agreement with Kazakhstan’s biggest bookie OLIMP KZ. OLIMP owner Anarbek Zhauyrov is “delighted” to incorporate BetGenius’ InPlay Manager into OLIMP’s existing in-play system, while BetGenius biz-dev manager Andrew Phillips was “delighted” to make inroads into the Central Asian Region and South Africa, where OLIMP also has a presence. Delightful.
