GIG secures German sports betting licence with Nordbet acquisition
€500,000 deal enables operator access to German customers and integrate larger payment providers
Gaming Innovation Group (GIG) has acquired German sportsbook Nordbet for €500,000 to strengthen its offering in the market.
Nordbet is currently an inactive company, but the deal gives GIG ownership of Nordbet’s Schleswig-Holstein sports betting licence, thus allowing its B2C brands to offer sports betting in Germany.
The licence will also allow GIG to integrate with the larger payment providers, making its sports and casino offering more available to German end-users.
GIG CEO Robin Reed said the operator had high ambitions for its B2C sports betting offering ahead of the World Cup and was also launching three new B2B products in coming months.
“Combining these sports betting services with preferred payment providers makes GIG’s sports offering in Germany very competitive ahead of the FIFA World Cup,” Reed said.
The licence is set to expire in February 2019 but GIG will have the opportunity to extend it.
RB Capital were the sell-side advisors on the transaction.
In related news, LeoVegas yesterday finalised its €2.6m acquisition deal with World of Sportsbetting Ltd which also holds a sports betting licence in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
LeoVegas group CEO Gustaf Hagman said being locally licensed would increase the operator’s credibility with media partners and improve its payment options.
GIG noted Germany is the second-largest online gambling market in Europe, with sports betting turnover of €5.3bn in 2017.
However, the sustainability of the market has been thrown into question in recent months, with 888 noting recently it was assessing “the status and breadth of its offerings in the German market”.
The uncertainty followed a court ruling against an 888 subsidiary that upheld the “prohibition on offering online gaming in Germany” and had subsequently seen major payment providers refuse to work with 888.