Playtech grabs Sun Bingo deal from Gamesys
Supplier's Virtue Fusion division agrees five-year deal with News UK to power new Sun Bingo and Fabulous Bingo sites
Playtech bingo arm Virtue Fusion will replace Gamesys as supplier of online bingo brands Sun Bingo and Fabulous Bingo after signing a five-year deal with media company News UK.
The agreement will see Playtech launch new desktop and mobile products for the popular online bingo sites once it completes the migration of existing players to the Virtue Fusion network in August 2016.
“The Playtech-powered Sun Bingo will use cutting-edge technology to offer best-performing and highly innovative bingo and side games, with fantastic promotions and prizes and the industry’s largest jackpots,” Mor Weizer, Playtech chief executive, said.
“This is a fantastic partnership that is aligned with our ongoing strategy of working with the best operators and media brands in regulated markets,” Weizer added.
Gamesys’ Gibraltar-based Entertaining Play subsidiary has operated the Sun Bingo brand since August 2008 and also launched Fabulous Bingo in 2011 in partnership with News UK.
“We’re proud to have worked with News UK and to have grown the Sun and Fabulous bingo propositions for many years, but I can confirm that we are amicably parting company in the second half of next year,” Gamesys CEO Lee Fenton, said.
“You could say we’re consciously uncoupling, but we’ll stay connected and might find an area we can collaborate on again in the future,” he added.
According to an analyst note from Cenkos Securities, Gamesys generated an estimated £131m in revenues last year, of which Sun Bingo is thought to have contributed approximately a third of that total, which would mean roughly 55m in additional net gaming revenue for Playtech from 2017E.
Earlier this year the London-headquartered operator sold a number of assets including Jackpotjoy, Botemania and Starspin brands to Intertain for £423m and has since unveiled a new management team with Lee Fenton promoted from COO to CEO.