SpreadEx, GiG, and Sega Sammy have all made significant gambling-related acquisitions this week. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Consolidation in the market

The past few days have seen a flurry of acquisitions in the gambling industry as a number of big names made strategic moves in an attempt to bolster their existing operations. SpreadEx, GiG, and Sega Sammy all got in on the action.

SpreadEx buy its rival in the spread betting space

The first of these deals saw SpreadEx buy its rival in the spread betting space, Sporting Index. France’s leading gambling operator Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) sold the company for an undisclosed sum, with the sale closing on Monday.

Sporting Index has been around since 1992 and was bought by FDJ in June 2019. In addition to the spread betting offering, the deal with SpreadEx also involves trading service provider Sporting Solutions and betting technology.

Looking at US growth

Sega is an iconic name in the video game space, having been one of the first companies to launch a home console. It has gone through many twists and turns over the years, merging in 2004 with Sammy Corporation. The company has agreed to purchase online gambling technology provider GAN for about $107.6m. The purchase price of $1.97 per share is a 121% premium on GAN’s closing price on November 7.

This is not the first acquisition of the year for the company; Sega Sammy spent €706m ($755m) in April to take over Angry Birds developer Rovio Entertainment.

Sega Sammy aims to expand its presence in the gaming space through this deal. It is hoping to make a dent in the US market, in particular, as more and more states legalize online gambling. The expectation is for the transaction to close before the end of next year assuming everything goes to plan.

GiG gobbling up affiliate companies

The third and final noteworthy gaming acquisition this week was iGaming software services provider Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) announcing the purchase of gambling affiliate KaFe Rocks in a deal worth €35m ($37m). This will help accelerate the buyer’s US growth and add to the acquisition it completed in January of AskGamblers which will cost as much as €45m ($48m) when everything is said and done.

KaFe Rocks operates more than 35 different online gambling-related platforms. Some of its brands include Time2play and AussieBet.

A number of companies showed interest in purchasing KaFe Rocks according to its spokesperson Aimee Speight. She said that the decision to ultimately go with GiG came down to “the strong performance the company has shown over the last few years.”