Evolution named in a lawsuit, FDJ makes a play for Kindred Group

The week will be marked by another series of significant events in the gambling industry, but perhaps none is more important than the offer by La Française des Jeux, a leading operator in France, to buy out Kindred Group, a counterpart that may lead to the creation of another major regional behemoth.

The proposed offer of $2.5bn has been confirmed by Kindred Group in an official statement with a consideration period to run from February 20, 2024 through November 19, 2024. Share prices for the company rose on the news of FDJ showing interest in buying out the business and becoming a majority owner with more than 90% of the shares.

It’s not yet clear whether Kindred Group intends to sell, but there is a good chance the company may consider this, citing a recent strategic review that began several months back and regulatory headwinds that have been eating into its revenue and financial performance.

Meanwhile, Evolution has been named in a fresh lawsuit by an irate shareholder who alleges that the company had misled and offered false statements about its involvement in illegal casinos in certain markets.

A lawsuit that was filed on Tuesday this week says that Evolution customers have been hit by enforcement action in Sweden and Australia, and this in turn has cost investors.

The lawsuit was filed by Federman & Sherwood against Martin Carlesund and Jacob Kaplan, both high-ranking executives at the company, and it was lodged with the United States District Courtfor theEastern District of Pennsylvania.

"Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of all Evolution AB investors who purchased securities, including ADSs, during the Class Period," the lawsuit states.

Suppliers and Operators on the Move

This week we also saw significant movement from gaming operators and suppliers, with companies keen to deliver their products in new markets and to new audiences. There have been a number of noteworthy partnerships to speak of as well.

Play’n GO for one celebrate its most successful month on record, with the company’s games reaching a crescendo of plays and overall amount spent, driving a solid financial performance across the board, and demonstrating that there is more room for growth in the iGaming sector where the supplier is specializing.

Stakelogic sought to drive further forays into the online casino market in Ontario with SkillOnNet brands. Other noteworthy launches took place with Campeón Gaming and Yggdrasil, with the latter entering a content partnership with the mostly Latin American brand, which added new products for its operations across the region.

Speaking of Latin America, SPRIBE, the author of the globally-acclaimed crash game Aviator has been cleared for launch in Panama, with the supplier not yet revealing any partner names, but anticipating the imminent introduction of the title locally.

In related news, other supplier-operator partnerships were reported this week as well, with Pariplay pursuing a similar growth trajectory with ComeOn Group, bringing titles from its Fusion aggregation platform and in-house Wizard Games studio.

RubyPlay sought to also expand its footprint with PokerStars in Europe, as the two companies continue to build a strong rapport together, and specifically because of the operator’s dedicated push in the online casino vertical.

Regulators Throw Their Weight

Regulators also had their say this week, with a number of enforcement actions taking place. In Malta, the Malta Gaming Authority canceled the authorization of Super7plus Limited, as the regulator continues to take a harder look at operators licensed under an MGA seal and seeks to ensure that it maintains a good standard.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board has pursued a similar course of action, as the regulator ordered a number of companies to stop offering what the operator said were illegal gambling products in the Great Lakes State.

The trio of companies, globally recognized, and trusted, have complied. This is an important development as it shows that regulators based in states in the USA are prepared to take action now proactively against companies that may not have been authorized to offer their gambling products in their jurisdictions.

Sweden in the meantime has taken a similar course of action and ordered two illegal websites to cease and desist. The companies were ordered to stop providing what Spelinspektionen said were illegal gambling products, and the decision comes after the regulator established that it could connect and play to the websites in question even though they were not authorized by the regulator or licensed under the country’s regime.

Casino Guru Academy and Casino Guru Awards

We are happy to share with you this week that Casino Guru and AffPapa have teamed up for a new Casino Guru Academy course focused on iGaming Affiliate Management Essentials, which will help companies in the sector get a quick onboarding expeirence and better understand the needs of what makes modern affiliate businesses successful in the first place.

We also recorded our latest All Things Gambling podcast series where we spoke with the CEO of The Better Institute, Jody Bechtold, with whom we discussed "The Importance of Prevention in Achieving Safer Gambling."

Our team also had the opportunity to catch up with two of the Casino Guru Awards nominees this week. Soft2Bet spoke about the importance of balancing between responsible gambling and the user experience, and offered an insightful and detailed look into how this is manageable today.

We similarly caught up with iWildCasino which is the shortlisted company in The Most Effective Handling of Complaints category for Casino Guru Awards with whom we spoke on the importance of making sure that player voices are heard and that casinos use player feedback to build more robust, reliable, and transparent product offers across the board.

Above all else, Casino Guru did an in-depth dive into how Casino Guru Awards works and how the processes the event implements allow independent judges to evaluate companies and recognize only those that show true markers of excellence in their respective categories.

We strongly recommend having a look through the "A deep dive into industry processes helps us reward only the best of candidates," as it will help you understand the tremendous effort put into creating a new standard for industry rewards.

Image credit: Casino Guru News