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Aristocrat’s mobile subsidiary is on the move
Aristocrat Leisure has announced it will sell Plarium Global, its mobile gaming subsidiary, to Modern Times Group for $620m. Plarium is best known for its RPG title, ‘Raid: Shadow Legends’ which has over 80 million downloads, and has collaborated with Richard Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Jeff Goldblum.
Aristocrat first acquired Plarium in 2017 for $500m, although following the strategic review that was conducted this year, it was decided that Aristocrat would focus on its core gaming and social casino assets going forward. During this fiscal year, Plarium contributed around $615m in revenue to Pixel United, Aristocrat’s digital division.
US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gets straight to the Xpoint
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has dismissed GeoComply’s lawsuit which alleged Xpoint had infringed on its geolocation engine. According to Anna Sainsbury, GeoComply CEO and Co-Founder, the company had invented the technology that detected a player’s geographical location. GeoComply was formed in 2011, while Xpoint was unveiled at the 2021 G2E Las Vegas event.
In response to the decision, Xpoint said that this “shows that no company can monopolise vital geolocation technology services and force their clients to work with them” and “Xpoint will vigorously pursue opportunities to create choice for gaming operators and improve the health of the industry.”
Malta Gaming Authority takes a trip down memory lane
The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has released its audited annual report for 2023. Throughout last year, the MGA received 24 applications for gaming licences and granted 15 of them. The regulator also issued 28 warnings, suspended nine licences and cancelled 11 licences. A further seven penalties were imposed, for a total of €994,000 ($1.1m), due to AML/CFT failures. Finally, around 10,000 inspections were held across gaming parlours, lottery outlets, bingo halls, tombolas and licensed casinos.
Charles Mizzi, MGA CEO, said: “It is not a coincidence that the theme for the annual report is ‘sustainability’. The MGA’s ability to strike the right balance between allowing the industry to thrive and grow in a sustainable manner, while also protecting consumers, is key to Malta’s continued success.”
Endeavor Group opens up the Arena
Endeavor Group Holdings has agreed to sell both OpenBet and IMG Arena to OB Global Holdings for $450m. Earlier this year, Endeavor merged the two together and announced that IMG Arena would continue to operate under the OpenBet banner, before deciding to take the entire business private through a deal with Silver Lake.
The acquisition of OpenBet and IMG Arena is expected to be finalised before Silver Lake closes with Endeavour. However, the company has announced that it will continue to market IMG Arena for a third-party acquisition both during and after the closing period. The sale to OB Global Holdings is backed by several executives across the companies, including Ari Emanuel, Endeavor CEO and Jordan Levin, OpenBet CEO.
Galaxy Gaming gives the green light to Evolution
Galaxy Gaming has confirmed that its stockholders have approved a deal that would allow Evolution to acquire the company. A Special Meeting was held earlier this week and the precise voting results will be published in an upcoming Form 8-K report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Evolution entered into the agreement to acquire Galaxy Gaming back in July, where the deal was valued at around $85m cash. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2025 and would see Galaxy Gaming’s common stock delisted from public markets as it becomes a privately held company under Evolution.
