The Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings PLC has inked a deal with Swedish developers NetEnt to bring a slew of new games to the firm’s live casino offering, including roulette and blackjack variants such as Live Roulette and Blitz Blackjack.
Evolution Gaming currently provides all of the live casino games on 888holding’s flagship brand 888casino, but the LSE-listed firm is excited to expand its offering with new premium NetEnt games that offer immersive features like the chance for direct interaction with professional dealers over low latency connections as well as multiple camera angles and a variety of other customisable options.
As has become standard with new gambling titles coming to market today, the new games will also provide easy ways for players to set limits and stay in control of their spending and will fulfil 888’s and NetEnt’s commitments to responsible gaming.
Commenting on the deal, senior B2C vice president of 888holdings, Guy Cohen, said: “We’re very pleased to be signing a new deal with NetEnt Live Casino—one of the world’s finest live casino developers. The live casino has become an important component of our offer, as players seek the best of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Monte Carlo wherever they are.”
NetEnt’s live casino director Andres Rengifo added: “We are thrilled to provide [888casino] players with access to our exciting portfolio of interactive and sophisticated live casino games. With multiple camera views, fully customised options, and professional dealers to boot, we are excited by the potential of this partnership”.
The deal is the latest in a series of new partnerships struck by 888holdings in the past few weeks. In June the company teamed up with Playzido to brings popular new titles to their various platforms, including Bulletproof Games’ Tiki Runner, ReelPlay’s Atlantis Megaways, and Endemol Shine’s Deal or No Deal Rapid Round.
They also partnered with Betgenius to provide wide-ranging in-play and pre-match content for its sportsbook brand, 888sport, around the world. And most recently in July recently the firm extended its partnership with the Delaware Lottery for two more years to be its exclusive technology provider.
News of the new partnership between 888 and NetEnt comes as the development firm has agreed to be acquired by Scandinavian rivals Evolution Gaming in a deal worth SEK 19.6bn (£1.74bn) SEK 79.93 (£7.10) per share. The deal will see Evolution acquire 90 per cent of NetEnt’s corporate shareholding at a premium of 43 per cent on NetEnt’s closing SEK 56.10 share price on 23 June on the Nasdaq Stockholm Exchange.
Chairman of Evolution Gaming, Jens von Bahr, lauded the prospects for the newly combined firm, saying: “The combination of Evolution’s strong offering in a live casino with NetEnt’s leading position in online slots will result in a world-class portfolio of online games that will enable us to serve a growing customer base”.
888 was founded in 1997 and today is one of the most recognisable brands in the UK’s gaming market with brands including 888Casino, 888Poker, and 888Sport, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
However, in March 2018 the firm announced that it had applied for a gaming license in Malta due to the uncertainty surrounding the future of Gibraltar, where the company is based, upon the UK’s exit from the European Union and the next transition period.
Meanwhile, NetEnt was founded one year earlier in 1996 and has long been a pioneer in the online gaming market from its base in central Stockholm. The company currently has developed over 200 games, which it licenses to some of the world’s largest gaming operators.
