Betsson pays €60 Million for Betsafe

The most recent acquisition to impact the world of online gambling is Betsson's acquisition of Betsafe for €60 million.

Betsson is the Swedish bookmaker, offering online gambling services to European players for the past decade, and traded on the Swedish stock exchange.

It provides over 400,000 clients with gambling solutions in online sports betting, online poker, a betting exchange, online casino, online skill games, a bingo platform and Live Dealer casino gaming.

The Betsson Group also operates two of the most popular online casinos in Europe; Casino Euro and Cherry Casino. It offers its services in 19 common European languages so the brand has a wide cross-European appeal, together with a strong hold on parts of the Latin American market.

The latest acquisition of Betsafe will further cement Betsson's hold of the Nordic gambling market as Betsafe was the first, and so far the only, privately owned company to be granted a sponsorship deal for a major Danish football club.

Betsafe has also shown great profits in 2010 and reported a 119% increase in revenues that brought the company to €25.9 million.

Pontus Lindwall, Betsson CEO said that "this deal will fuel our growth… we strengthen our position in the Nordic region as well as our organization when merging two profitable companies, each of which has proven its ability to gain market share in highly competitive market environment."

Betsson will pay for Betsafe €32.5 million in cash and shares, with the further €27.5 million payable upon meeting developmental targets of the acquisition and the smooth integration of the two brands during 2011.

Both companies have a gaming license from Malta and the current plan is for Betsson to allow Betsafe to retain its current employees and management, including its founders.