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GCA Altium advises Tombola on its sale to Flutter Entertainment
Global investment bank GCA Altium acted as advisor to Tombola, one of the UK’s leading online bingo operators, on its £402m sale to Flutter Entertainment, the £20bn LSE-listed global leader in the gaming space.
Tombola, with its 700-strong team located primarily in Sunderland and Gibraltar, is a successful bingo-led gaming company with an emphasis on providing low staking entertainment products to a highly engaged customer base.
Tombola was the first major UK focused operator to introduce both mandatory staking and deposit limits, building a highly sustainable player base over the last 16 years. The company’s fully regulated revenue base comes mainly from the UK and has 400,000 average monthly players.
Flutter Entertainment is a global sports-betting and gaming company with a market cap of over £20bn, and the addition of Tombola to the Flutter portfolio delivers several key strategic advantages. As well as the diversification of Flutter’s products, the acquisition of Tombola also provides an addition of an engaged and sustainable player base, the enhancement of Flutter’s online gaming presence in its core UK market, as well as aligning with the company’s safer gambling strategy of expansion in their recreational customer base.
Peter Jackson, Flutter Chief Executive, said: “As the world’s leading online gambling operator, Flutter is delighted to add Tombola, the UK’s premier bingo brand to the Group. Tombola is a business we have long admired for its product expertise, highly recreational customer base and focus on sustainable play. The brand aligns closely with Flutter’s safer gambling strategy, a key area of focus for us. I am excited to combine Flutter’s digital marketing expertise with Tombola’s operational capabilities within the UK & Ireland division. As the time comes for Phil to hand over the reins, I would like to thank him for building the success story that the business is today, and I look forward to welcoming the Tombola team to Flutter and growing a sustainable business for the future together.”
Martin Larsson, Managing Director at GCA Altium, added: “This is an excellent strategic fit for both parties involved and sees the combination of two powerhouses in the UK gaming market. We see Flutter as a good home to uphold the company’s legacy and support the team as it continues to capitalise on the exciting growth opportunities that lie ahead.”
Under the terms of the transaction, Flutter will pay £402m in cash upon completion for 100 per cent of the business. The transaction is conditional on merger control clearance by the UK Competition and Markets Authority and is expected to complete in Q1 2022.
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game-mechanics
RubyPlay rolls out in-game Missions and Tournaments engagement tools
RubyPlay has launched a new suite of in-game Engagement Tools—starting with Missions and Tournaments—aimed at helping operators increase session depth and retention through game-level events.
The company said the tools move away from “wallet-level” engagement mechanics common in the market by tying objectives and scoring to events that occur inside the slot experience. Missions lets operators build campaigns where players complete specific in-game objectives in exchange for instant rewards.
Tournaments adds a time-bound competitive layer, with players earning points by triggering in-game events such as high-value symbol landings and feature activations. RubyPlay said both tools are designed to run as a native part of gameplay rather than an external overlay.
Deployment will extend across RubyPlay’s portfolio and its studio ecosystem, including RubyPlay Studio, Koala Games, Mad Hat Games, xSlots and Firerose, with each able to embed Missions and Tournaments in their titles.
Tsachi Maimon, Chief Executive Officer at RubyPlay, said: “When we developed our Engagement Tools, the goal was not to add another promotional layer on top of the game. The goal was to strengthen the game itself.
“Most engagement mechanics in the market are built around wallet activity or broad player behaviour. We wanted to take a different approach by building Missions and Tournaments around real in-game events, the moments players already connect with during the slot experience.
“That creates a more relevant and intuitive journey for players, while giving operators a powerful way to support longer sessions, stronger retention and deeper engagement across RubyPlay’s full content ecosystem.”
The post RubyPlay rolls out in-game Missions and Tournaments engagement tools appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
crypto sports
iBankroll signs risk-sharing deal with MonkeyTilt for VIP wagering limits
Partnership targets high-stakes variance coverage, enabling up to $1m-per-round blackjack and unlimited daily withdrawals, the companies say.
iBankroll has signed a risk-sharing partnership with crypto sports and casino operator MonkeyTilt to expand the operator’s high-stakes VIP wagering limits, the companies said.
The agreement uses iBankroll’s “Bankroll-as-a-Service” model, which is designed to absorb short-term variance tied to high-stakes play. iBankroll said the structure reduces the need for operators to hold large capital reserves to cover VIP action, freeing up balance sheet for investment in product, marketing and customer experience.
Under the deal, MonkeyTilt said it will offer $1 million per-round blackjack, $6 million maximum slot wins, unlimited daily withdrawals, and “top-of-market sports limits.” The press release adds that MonkeyTilt is backed by PolyChain and Pantera Capital and has raised over $80 million in funding.
Hayden Bowman, Co-Founder of iBankroll, said: “MonkeyTilt is building one of the most ambitious consumer products in the space.
“Sam and the team don’t take partnerships lightly and we don’t either when the deal is this size. We’ve spent the last several months getting every piece into place so MonkeyTilt can take on serious volume and volatility with zero bankroll risk on their side. It’s been a real pleasure working with them and we’re excited to keep going.”
Sam Kiki, Founder and CEO of MonkeyTilt, said: “MonkeyTilt has raised over $80 million from investors like Pantera Capital, Polychain, PokerGo, and myself. However, we have always had to earmark a large portion of our balance sheet to guarantee immediate payouts to winners.
“Moving forward, this risk will be assumed by our partners, freeing up our capital for growth. What most people don’t realise is that 99 percent of startup casinos don’t actually have a bankroll. Some take $100K-per-hand action knowing they can’t cover the downside. This deal puts us in the 1 percent that doesn’t have to think about it.”
The post iBankroll signs risk-sharing deal with MonkeyTilt for VIP wagering limits appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
content-supplier
Pragmatic Play adds football theme to Big Bass series with new slot
Pragmatic Play has released Big Bass Football Bonanza, a new entry in its Big Bass slot series that switches the franchise’s fisherman theme to a football stadium setting.
The 5×3 title uses trophy scatters to trigger a bonus game. According to the supplier, landing 3-5 trophy scatters awards 15-25 free spins, with wilds split into red and blue “teams” that collect money symbols worth up to 5,000x.
Pragmatic Play said red and blue wilds are collected on their respective sides, with every fourth wild on each team awarding 10 extra spins and adding multipliers of 2x, 3x and 10x on the first, second and third retrigger. The supplier added that if wilds land with no money symbols, or money symbols land with no wilds, paying symbols can be randomly transformed into wilds or cash prizes.
The launch lands just over two weeks before the world’s biggest football tournament gets underway. Pragmatic Play positions the release as the latest addition to the Big Bass franchise following recent titles Big Bass Trophy Catch and Big Bass Raceday Repeat.
Sharon McHugh, Director of Public Relations at Pragmatic Play, said: “Big Bass Football Bonanza has been designed to capture the electric atmosphere surrounding the world’s most-watched football tournament. From the stadium-inspired setting to the football-themed symbols, the game delivers an entertaining twist on the popular Big Bass formula.”
The post Pragmatic Play adds football theme to Big Bass series with new slot appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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