Unibet has acquired Sportingbet’s stake in Bonza Gaming, one of just three providers to date to launch real-money gambling on Facebook.
The Swedish operator, which launched its Maria female-oriented brand in the UK last year, will pay a nominal sum of £100 to acquire 100% of Social Gambling (Channel Islands), which owns approximately 45% of Bonza Gaming.
Unibet will provide £2m in loans to support Bonza’s growth, working alongside co-investor Plumbee, the London-based social games developer behind Mirrorball Slots.
Bonza last month became the third company behind Gamesys and 888 to launch real-money games on Facebook in the UK, its Bonza Slots platform going live with five Net Entertainment-developed titles.
Confirmation of Sportingbet’s disposal of its stake in Bonza Gaming comes on the day William Hill and GVC are due to complete a £485m joint takeover of Sportingbet. Hill’s is to acquire the Australian business and a call option on Spain, with GVC taking over the remaining business, including the UK where the Facebook JV currently operates.
Both William Hill and GVC however both appear to have passed on the opportunity to acquire the Bonza Gaming stake as part of the transaction.
While William Hill boss Ralph Topping has not yet publicly expressed an opinion on how he views real-money games on Facebook, he is known to lack comfort with the non-regulated status of gambling-style social games on the platform, arguing they should be subject to the same controls as real-money gambling in Britain.
The bookmaker’s “watching brief” on this “potentially lucrative business opportunity” however appeared to be drawing to a close earlier this month, when Topping admitted the company was working with social gaming companies on a potential entry to the space.
None of the companies involved in real-money gambling on Facebook have yet disclosed any real detail of how the games are performing relative to those delivered by traditional digital channels.
Brian Mattingley of 888, which followed up its first real-money Facebook offering BingoAppy launched in December with the first full casino suite on the platform earlier this month, recently admitted that while 888 had seen strong customer interest to date, “it is too early to predict the ultimate success of this new market.”
Article written by Stephen Carter
