Net Gaming Europe AB has sold the concept, trademark and brand domain name for the award-winning poker tournament The Battle of Malta to Casino Malta Limited for €300,000.
Winston Churchill once called Malta an unsinkable aircraft carrier as the Germans and Italians flew 3,000+ air raids on the strategic military position during World War II. The historians amongst you may be thinking about this when I mention the words – Battle of Malta.
Not me.
I think about poker.
The Battle of Malta (BOM) has grown in stature each year since its 2012 birth. The organisers, PokerListings, have done such a fantastic job, the only constant has been the price tag.
Those living on the more populous side of the Hogwarts Express understand that €550 is a lot of money to invest in a game of cards. For the wizards who call the poker table ‘home’, it’s one of the lowest price points, with life-changing money on the end of the line, in the whole of Europe.
Check this out for progress:
2012 : 349 entrants
2013: 888 entrants
2014: 1,447 entrants
2015: 1,804 entrants
2016: 1,813 entrants
2017: 2,074 entrants
Will the 2018 BOM continue this northward trend? It will be difficult. A new company is taking the reins.
Battle of Malta – Sold!
Ok, we know that PokerListings runs the BOM, and that PokerListings is an affiliate website containing a lot of interesting information and articles about poker. But did you know that PokerListings belongs to Highlight Media, who in turn belong to Net Gaming Europe AB?
I didn’t until, today.
Well, somewhere along this chain of command it was decided that running BOM was more trouble than it was worth, and so they sold the trademark, concept and domain name ‘Battle of Malta’ to Casino Malta Limited for €300,000.
“We are pleased with the sale. For Highlight Media, it is important to focus on our main business, which is operating high-quality comparison sites online,” said Erik Gjerde, CEO Highlight Media. “Highlight Media has successfully made Battle of Malta one of Europe’s largest poker tournaments in its segment, and we feel that another owner can take the event to the next level.”
As part of the pact, PokerListings remains as the primary marketer for the event allowing them to continue using BOM as a revenue generator and promoting the festival they’ve nurtured since birth.
Net Gaming revealed that BOM contributed ‘marginally‘ to their revenue and profit in 2017.
World class hosts such as Kara Scott, Maria Ho and Gaelle Garcia Diaz have taken charge of the event, which won a Global Poker Index (GPI) European Poker Award (EPA) in 2014.
