Cherry picks German market as it exits GB
Swedish casino operator to close Great Britain-facing accounts as it prepares for German push
Swedish multi-brand casino and lottery operator Cherry is to embark on an aggressive German marketing strategy as the company prepares to pull out of Great Britain due to the Point of Consumption regime, eGaming Review can reveal.
Speaking to eGR, Cherry CEO Emil Sunvisson (pictured) said the company was to use its Schleswig-Holstein licence in order to advertise in the country as part of wider plans to grow an online business that incorporates B2C brands such as CherryCasino, EuroSlots and EuroLotto.
“Sweden, Finland and Norway are our core markets but we have a German licence through Schleswig-Holstein so we are going to make a German push now through that licence,” Sunvisson said.
“We are giving players from Schleswig-Holstein the opportunity to play on our licensed dot.de site, while players coming from elsewhere have a wider range of games on our dot.com site,” he added.
The Cherry chief executive, who joined the company in 2006 as it split from NetEnt and Betsson, played down talk of entering what he called a “competitive” US market, although refused to rule out making an Asian play.
“I would rather look east than west at this point,” Sunvisson said. “I think there is a lot of focus on the US but there will be a lot of competition with a lot of the major companies going into the US.”
One market Sunvisson was unequivocal about is the UK, confirming the company had no plans to apply for a licence. “It’s only a small fraction [of our business] for us so it’s not worth us applying,” he said.
Sunvisson said the firm could “possibly” sell its British customer database while it was also keeping its options open regarding any potential acquisition opportunities.
“We have been very active in M&A “ we’ve probably made 10 acquisitions “ so I am always on the lookout,” Sunvisson said. “We have enough cash and we have wealthy owners so if the structure is right, if the pricing and timing is right and, most importantly, if the team feels good, then perhaps,” he added.
Cherry, which also owns an approximate 90% stake in burgeoning games supplier Yggdrasil, recently posted a 40% jump in online revenues to SEK40.6m for H1 2014.