biggest, emblematic of the operator’s intent to hit the ground running in what is unquestionably a key market, in order to guarantee the problems faced in France will not be repeated. “The Bet24 brand has predominance in Danish market, and though we had a top three position, they also had a top three position so it allowed us to consolidate our position further,” he explained. Unibet is yet to fully realise the bene?ts of the deal, but will hope that ?rst-quarter growth in revenues from regulated markets – now comprising some 15% of overall revenues – is a sign of things to come. Crucial period Just weeks after Unibet’s deal for Bet24 was ?rst announced, one of its main competitors – Betsson – demonstrated it had no intention of ignoring the acquisition route. Having already acquired Betsafe for up to €60m in May 2011, the Swedish operator agreed a €65m purchase price for Power 50 operator Nordic Gaming Group, another company with a signi?cant Scandinavian player base. Betsson CEO Magnus Silfverberg lauded the deal for giving his company the opportunity to reaffirm “its leading position amongst the private gaming company alternatives in the Nordic region”. One impact of this consolidation is that service providers have fewer parties with whom to do business, affecting Net Entertainment due to its existing Danish-facing partnerships with Bet24
*
38
*
Number of egaming licences awarded in advance of the Danish market opening
and Unibet as well as Danbook and Scandic. Both of the latter two come under the Sportingbet banner after being acquired by the London-listed operator last year. “For us it doesn’t have so much of an effect except that there are fewer parties to negotiate with. It’s de?nitely more of an issue for smaller operators trying to gain market share,” explains NetEnt CEO Per Eriksson.“There’s a lot of consolidation going on in Denmark, but in all markets when you have big growth the consolidation happens in every industry, and we had planned for this happening,” he adds. As with Eriksson, Batram is not surprised by the speed with which this has all happened. “It will be pretty apparent, pretty quickly, what is sustainable.” He admits that “in a bigger market the process may take a bit longer and support more operators but ultimately the dynamic will be the same”, suggesting something comparable may be on the cards in the UK once a point of consumption tax is brought in. “The costs of operating will go up but the market won’t grow – the same number of operators just won’t be sustainable,” Batram explains. It remains to be seen how far operators can eat into the market share held by former monopoly Danske Spil. It holds a strong market share, which three operators have been forced to spend eight ?gures just to come close to breaching. Could efforts ultimately prove futile regardless? Rolf Andersson, founder of lobby group DanGaming, said of last month’s interim ?gures for the Danish market: “It seems that Danske Spil and Unibet are the big winners in the introduction race.” Yet, while leading the way for casino and poker – where its products are supplied by bwin.party – the lack of a resolution on the former monopoly’s sportsbook tender leaves that particular vertical open for existing operators to capture market share. This can be seen from the fact that consolidation to date has surrounded those operators with a strong sportsbook focus, as they seek to take advantage of an area of the market where gross gambling revenue is anticipated to reach DKK1.135bn ?
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