Gamesys
Type | Private |
---|---|
Traded as | Gamesys Ltd |
Founder(s) | Noel Hayden |
Industry | Internet |
Employees | 900+ Worldwide |
Website |
www |
Type of site | Gambling |
Registration | Yes |
Users | 40 million+ |
Launched | April 2001 |
Current status | Active |
The Gamesys Group is a software developer and operator and currently operates several online social and real money slots in the United Kingdom and other European countries, along with casino and bingo sites on both web and mobile and tablet. More recently Gamesys and Facebook launched the first online real cash gaming applications on their platform. The company was founded in 2001 by Noel Hayden, Robin Tombs, Andrew Dixon and a small team of developers. They currently employ 900 people with headquarters based in Central London.
Across the group in 2012, wagering was over US $6.4 billion on their largest UK site, paying out in excess of $312 million in prize money every month.
Acquisitions have included Virgin Games, and partnerships include Tropicana Entertainment, Caesars, and News Corporation. Gamesys was listed by the magazine eGaming Review as the fifth in their "eGR Power50" list of online gaming companies.[1]
The group now includes:
- Gamesys Limited is the software development and technical support services business.
- Mice and Dice Ltd is the internal marketing agency for the business.
- Profitable Play Ltd is the licensed operator of Jackpotjoy.com and StarSpins registered in Gibraltar.
- Leisure Spin Ltd is the licensed operator of se.Jackpotjoy.com and it.jackpotjoy.com registered in Gibraltar
- Entertaining Play Limited is the licensed operator of SunBingo.com, FabulousBingo.com, CaesarsBingo.com, CaesarsCasino.com & HeartGames.com registered in Gibraltar
- Nozee Limited is the licensed operator of Virgingames.com and registered in Gibraltar
- Gamesys Spain Plc is the licensed operator of Botemania.es and is registered in Gibraltar
Industry awards
Gamesys was named as the UK’s number 1 fastest-growing private technology company in the Sunday Times 2006 Tech Track 100. In the 2007 listing, Gamesys was ranked at 28. The Tech Track 100 is compiled by Fast Track and ranks Britain’s fastest growing unquoted technology firms by sales.[2]
- 2007 - Jackpotjoy.com won the Egaming Review Bingo Operator of the Year award.
- 2010 - Jackpotjoy.com won the Which Bingo Site of the Year award.
- 2011 - EGR Winners - Slots Operator of the Year, Bingo Operator of the Year, Best Marketing Campaign of the Year
- 2012 - EGR Winners - Affiliate Programme of the Year, Customer Services Operator of the Year, Social Casino Product of the Year [3]
- 2013 - EGR Winners - Innovation in Slots, Innovation in Bingo[4]
Websites
The Group's primary soft-gaming brand is Jackpotjoy.com which offers both free-to-play and pay-to-play versions of their games. The games are browser-based and do not require a download. Jackpotjoy has launched games based around classic UK TV game shows including The Price Is Right, Strike It Lucky and Deal or No Deal. The company has licensed its software to a Spanish company under the Botemania brand.
Gamesys now holds the News International SunBingo.co.uk and FabulousBingo.co.uk contracts and provides software, support and services to News International. A re-launch of SunBingo.co.uk was made on 26 August 2008 after their decision to move to Gamesys after ending their contract with tombola. FabulousBingo.co.uk was launched in September 2011 shortly after the demise of the News of the World Sunday newspaper and its accompanying bingo site.
The company has a contract with Harrah's Entertainment, the owners of Caesars Palace, for the CaesarsBingo.com site and Games.Heart.co.uk, which is the gaming site for Heart FM radio.
The Spanish site botemania.es is also part of the Gamesys network.
Gamesys Limited’s Jackpotjoy brand and other assets were sold to Canadian online gaming company, Intertain Group on 5 February 2015 for an initial payment of £425.8 million with additional payments to be made between years three and five. The sale price consists of a combination of cash, share considerations and cash earn out payments.[5]
As a result of the sale, Intertain now owns both the UK and Swedish Jackpotjoy brands, UK brand Star Spins, Spanish brand Botemania plus the Jackpotjoy Slots and Star Spins Slots social gaming apps. Another aspect of the deal includes a service agreement in which Gamesys will remain onboard under the terms of a service agreement to provide end-to-end technical, marketing and operational services across the brands for a period of ten years with a clause for the possibility to license gaming content for another ten years.
Notes
- ↑ "The eGR Power 50 Database – a business intelligence tool for the online gambling industry". egrpower50.com.
- ↑ "Company profile". fasttrack.co.uk.
- ↑ "EGR Operator Awards 2013 - EGR Magazine". egrmagazine.com.
- ↑ "- EGR Magazine". egrmagazine.com.
- ↑ "Jackpotjoy Acquired by Intertain". latestbingobonuses.com. 6 February 2015.