Hero Gaming sells Swedish igaming brands to Paf in B2B pivot

Paf has agreed a deal to acquire Swedish-licensed gaming brands Speedy Ltd and Speedy Originals from parent company Hero Gaming.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although EGR understands the purchase will make Paf the sixth largest gaming company in the Swedish market.

Paf CEO Christer Fahlstedt described the deal as a vote of confidence in the Swedish market, which has left many online casino operators with reduced revenue following the introduction of deposit limits in July 2020.

However, Fahlstedt remained upbeat about Paf’s continued presence in the country despite the regulations.

He said: “The Speedy brands were perfect for Paf’s investment in the Swedish market.

“We have a long-term strategy and strong faith in the future in the regulated Swedish gaming market.

“With the acquisition, we will move to a top six position in Sweden, which is completely in line with where we want to be.

“Our goal is to remain a strong player in Sweden for many years to come. Hero Gaming has done a good job with the gaming sites and they will be a good complement for us in the future,” he added.

Speedy Ltd and Speedy Originals operate the Speedy Casino, Speedy Bet and Speedy Spel sites, all of which are licensed by the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA).

Those licences will now be transferred to Paf, with the brands remaining as they are for the foreseeable future.

However, Paf has wasted no time in asserting its authority over acquisitions, confirming that the brands will transpose the firm’s responsible gambling standards, including Paf’s annual mandatory loss limit of SEK200,000.

“We do not have an interest in taking over the gaming sites unless their customers are largely at a gaming level that we accept,” Fahlstedt said.

“But of course, customers will notice that we value responsible gaming very strongly, to the same level of responsible gaming that we have on Paf’s other gaming sites,” the Paf CEO added.

Hero Gaming was founded in 2013 and has managed to increase Swedish revenue by more than 500% during the last three years following the launch of regulated market operations in Sweden in 2019.

Hero Gaming CEO Tomas Bäckman revealed the growth led to a strategy that would see shareholders in the firm receive dividends on their investment, rather than a calculated exit from the Swedish market.

“The founder, Georg Westin together with our main shareholders, have not been interested in selling off the whole group which is why this part-exit was a win-win strategy for everyone,” Bäckman explained.

“We have been working on structuring this sale for the last 1.5 years with setting up the companies, applying for new Swedish licences and moving the brands for sale into the companies that are now being sold.

“This is not to be seen as an exit from our side, rather the opposite – we’re optimising our company structure and strategy for continued growth while at the same time paying back some well-deserved dividend to our patient shareholders,” Bäckman added.

The sale leaves Hero Gaming with just one licensed Swedish brand in casinoheroes.com.

Discussing the firm’s next move, Bäckman confirmed Hero Gaming would instead focus on providing B2B services to clients focusing on non-European markets including Asia and Latam.

“The world is big and by putting more focus on providing more locally placed products and content to our selected partners through our advanced technology, we believe we can create even higher shareholder value in the long run,” he added.