Latest News

GCA Altium advises Tombola on its sale to Flutter Entertainment

Published

5 years ago

November 19, 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes

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.

brand campaigns

Stake releases hot air balloon football match stunt at 10,000ft

Published

55 minutes ago

June 23, 2026

Wladimir P.

stake-releases-hot-air-balloon-football-match-stunt-at-10,000ft

Stake published a new campaign video on June 23 showing a small-sided football match played on a pitch suspended from a hot air balloon at 10,000ft.

The video features six extreme sports content creators—Nathan Roque, Alessio Papia, Nicolo Contrada, Yasmin Xavier, Sara Vidal, and Carol Chafauzer—playing on a 12m x 20m synthetic grass platform. Stake said the 3,000kg pitch was carried by balloon during a 60-minute flight, with participants later jumping from the platform using parachutes.

The activation sits within Stake’s “It’s All At Stake” brand platform, which the company launched ahead of this summer’s global football tournament. According to Stake, the campaign is being promoted across YouTube, Instagram and X.

Jarrod Febbraio, Director at Stake, said: “This summer sees one of the biggest cultural moments on the planet and simply showing up is no longer enough. Our ambition is to create campaigns that genuinely capture people’s attention, spark conversation and give fans something they haven’t seen before.

“At Stake, we are always looking for ways to push creative boundaries and challenge expectations around sports marketing. Whether it’s our It’s All At Stake campaign or staging a football match thousands of feet in the air, the objective is the same – creating entertainment that resonates with audiences and delivers memorable experiences around the moments they care most about.”

Stake also said the “It’s All At Stake” campaign has generated more than 200 million views across earned and social channels in the first week of the tournament.

The post Stake releases hot air balloon football match stunt at 10,000ft appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Game Aggregation

Infingame says tournaments and missions drive retention on sweepstakes platforms

Published

55 minutes ago

June 23, 2026

Wladimir P.

Infingame has published operational observations on what it says is driving player engagement on sweepstakes platforms, arguing that traditional online casino retention tactics don’t consistently translate to the sweepstakes model.

According to the aggregator, the strongest-performing sweepstakes products are built around progression-driven engagement, social-style competition, lightweight onboarding, and highly dynamic promotional systems. “Sweepstakes players behave very differently from traditional casino audiences,” said Jana Filagina, Head of Commercial at Infingame. “The expectation is much closer to entertainment platforms and gaming ecosystems than classic gambling products. Retention is driven by interaction quality, progression, and continuous engagement rather than purely transactional behavior.”

Infingame identified tournament ecosystems as a leading mechanic for repeat participation and session continuity, saying competitive formats outperform static reward campaigns by adding progression loops and achievement motivation. The company said operators using segmented tournament mechanics recorded higher repeat participation rates than those relying mainly on bonus-driven campaigns, and flagged “multiplier races, win races, and progression-based leaderboard systems” as particularly effective for mobile-first audiences due to short-session play patterns.

“Players want activity, not passive rewards,” Filagina said. “The strongest-performing sweepstakes platforms are creating environments where players continuously interact with missions, rankings, tournaments, and achievement systems rather than simply claiming bonuses.”

Infingame also highlighted mission-based challenge systems as a fast-growing retention lever, saying they encourage broader content exploration and higher daily return activity than standard promotional structures. Separately, the company pointed to infrastructure scalability as an operational priority, arguing that mobile-heavy, interaction-focused audiences make responsiveness and gameplay continuity central to engagement performance as operators scale across North America.

The post Infingame says tournaments and missions drive retention on sweepstakes platforms appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Latest News

SolutionsHub marks 10 years and plans more overseas offices

Published

55 minutes ago

June 23, 2026

Wladimir P.

solutionshub-marks-10-years-and-plans-more-overseas-offices

Isle of Man-based regulatory and licensing consultancy says it has opened in Ireland and will announce further locations.

SolutionsHub has marked its 10-year anniversary, highlighting international expansion plans from its Isle of Man base. Founder Lee Hills set up the regulatory and licensing consultancy on 23 June 2016, the day of the Brexit referendum.

The company said it has grown from a one-person operation into what it describes as “the largest regulatory and licensing consultancy on the Isle of Man,” supported by a team that includes former regulators, government officials and compliance specialists. SolutionsHub said it now supports “hundreds of businesses and organisations” across gaming, fintech and other regulated sectors, and has received “more than 55 industry awards, including three EGR awards.”

SolutionsHub said its international footprint has increased, with an office established in Ireland and further overseas offices set to be announced as part of its next stage of development. The company also said it is broadening its work into adjacent regulated industries as regulation and operational complexity evolve globally.

Hills said: “I did not begin with a detailed ten-year plan. I knew the type of business I wanted to create and the standards I wanted it to represent, but what SolutionsHub has become has been built by the people who joined the business and contributed their own knowledge, experience and commitment.

“We have never pursued growth simply for the sake of becoming bigger. We have focused on being consistent, investing in people with genuine regulatory and operational experience and making sure that growth does not come at the expense of the quality of our work.

“That has been a collective effort throughout the past ten years. Every person who has worked with us, supported the business or trusted us to advise them has played a part in reaching this point.

“The opportunity now is to take the same approach into new markets, strengthen our international presence and continue building the expertise our clients will need as regulation becomes increasingly complex.”

SolutionsHub COO Nick Wright added: “When I joined SolutionsHub, it was still a very young business, but the ambition and the standards behind it were already clear,” Wright said.

“What has followed has been a genuine team effort. We have brought together people with significant regulatory, operational and industry experience, and each of them has contributed to the business SolutionsHub is today.

“The company is larger, the team has grown and we now work across more markets, but the underlying principles have remained the same. We want to do the work properly, give clients practical support and build relationships that last.

“Reaching ten years gives us an opportunity to recognise everything the team has achieved together, while also looking ahead to what we can build next.”

The post SolutionsHub marks 10 years and plans more overseas offices appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.