EGR Power 50: 31-40 (2018)

31. SKS365 Group (26)

Malta-headquartered SKS365, owner of planetwin365, made its debut in the Power 50 last year and the group has a presence in markets such as Spain and Italy. However, it is the latter where the operator has made the biggest splash and Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates SKS365 had a 6% share of the Italian online gaming market in 2017, with the operator jostling with bet365 to be number one in online sports betting on a month-by-month basis.

32. Paf (35)

Paf makes a strong case for being one of the most responsible operators in the industry given the contributions it makes to good causes and non-profit associations. The Åland-basd operator took it a step further this year with the launch of the “first-of-its-kind” annual lost limit in September, which is currently set at SEK300,000 per year. However, this social responsibility focus doesn’t seem to impede the company’s ability to grow too much, with full-year operating profit increasing 75% to €27.6m in 2017.

33. Zeal Network (34)

Zeal Network always seems to play second fiddle to Lottoland when the topic of online lotteries emerge, but the London-based operator continues to be a major player in the lottery space. The company has brought to market a range of innovative in-house products this year, including Instant Games and Raffld, and its latest quarterly results revealed a 21% increase in statutory revenue to €111.2m (up 8% on a normalised basis). Zeal also recently made a takeover offer for online lottery brokerage firm Lotto24 in a bid to “de-risk its business model” in the German lottery betting market.

34. Casumo (30)

Since its inception in 2012, Casumo has won plaudits across the online casino sector for its unique focus on gamifying the customer experience, including its use of social gaming features such as player achievements and leaderboards. And the company caught the industry’s attention once again earlier this year when it announced plans to diversify into the sports betting sphere and take aim at casual bettors with a new Kambi-powered sportsbook. The product had yet to be launched at the time of writing but if Casumo can continue its track record in gaming into sports betting, then it will be in a strong position to climb the rankings next year.

35. Sisal (39)

While Italian rival Snaitech’s year has largely been defined by its acquisition by B2B giant Playtech, Sisal has had no such distractions. The Milan-based operator, which reported full-year online gaming revenue of €72.4m in 2017, had another strong 12 months this year, culminating in the firm winning Socially Responsible Operator and Operator of the Year at the EGR Italy Awards in October. The Italian government’s blanket ad ban prevents Sisal from obtaining a higher position in this year’s Power 50.

36. Gamesys (31)

Gamesys falls a few spots this year given the predominantly B2B flavour of the business, despite steady growth from its Virgin, Caesars, Monopoly and Heart brands. However, the London-based Gamesys is now firmly within the top-10 UK online casino operators, according to analyst firm Regulus Partners and, more recently, the company was preparing to launch its long-awaited sportsbook under the Virgin moniker. Elsewhere, Gamesys began to move apart from JPJ Group, after receiving the final earn-out payment from JPJ for the acquisition of Jackpotjoy and Botemania. Gamesys still provides content for JPJ’s Vera&John brand.

37. Asian BGE (28)

Asian BGE, the company behind Dafabet, has arguably had a much busier year than many of its Asia-facing competitors that are included in this year’s Power 50. The firm’s flagship brand completed its “biggest ever” sponsorship deal to continue as the front-of-shirt sponsor of Scottish Premiership champions Celtic for a further five years. However, the company also closed its UK-facing online casino site earlier this year, although its sports betting product has remained available for customers.

38. Svenska Spel (41)

The former monopoly operator is currently preparing for arguably the biggest shake-up in its history with the Swedish gambling market set to re-regulate in January and welcome foreign operators. As part of this preparation, Svenska Spel announced in October its back-end platform was to undergo a major overhaul – described by the company as its largest IT project ever. How the company fares in this new environment remains to be seen but it’s safe to say Svenska Spel has more than its fair share of advantages to more than compete with an influx of newly licensed operators, not least with regards to the omni-channel opportunities.

39. Danske Spil (37)

Danske Spil drops two spots on the list this year as its overall financial score ticked down compared to last year. During 2018 the operator continued to take steps to modernise its offering, including the launch of an SBTech-powered sportsbook. Danske Spil CEO Niels Erik Folmann said the YouBet product was designed to regain customers from the likes of Unibet and bet365, with functions like cash-out and more comprehensive in-play markets.

40. Global Gaming (N/A)

The Malmo-based casino operator gained quick traction in Sweden last year by exclusively offering Trustly’s Pay N Play no-registration and fast-withdrawal function. Both have proved seismic innovations in the industry and have sparked a massive trend in the Nordics – and now the UK. Although the function has been extended to others, Global Gaming’s flagship Ninja Casino is growing its profits by approximately 60% year-on-year. In Q2 it recorded profits of SEK41m (£3.5m). Global Gaming went public on Nasdaq Stockholm’s First North exchange in October 2017 and has since seen its stock price rise 16%. In 2019 it will launch a sportsbook from Kambi and was recently granted an Estonian casino licence to offer the Pay N Play function to Estonian players.