The Facebook launch grabbed the most attention but Gamesys is expanding in all sorts of different markets

At least four times this year someone has whispered the following phrase to us: “Did you hear that Gamesys is going to be bought out for £1bn this week?”
The first time we heard it, naturally we said “no”. The second, third and fourth times we said: “Yes, we have heard that, where did you hear it from?”
The response would generally be “a very reliable source” or “a City gent” or something similar. It seems that the “very reliable sources” are not that reliable. However, most of these sources do not normally indulge in such idle banter without some foundation.
The remarkable thing is not really the bid speculation. After all, you would expect Playtech, Zynga and Caesars to come knocking but what you would not expect is the price – £1bn?!?
That is an awful lot of money for anyone to spend. IGT spent Eu78m on Entraction, which at the time had revenues of just Eu39m. It also spent $500m on DoubleDown Interactive, which had revenues of who-knows-what?
In 2011 Gamesys gross revenues rose 27 per cent to £125m. Given the valuation of DoubleDown, the £1bn figure is perhaps not that remarkable. Although obviously it has not happened yet. What is remarkable is that the £1bn valuation barely had our sources blinking. That is testament to the strength of the Gamesys business.
With December left to come Gamesys looked like it would easily match last year’s performance. There is no doubt that Gamesys is one of the UK’s most successful gaming companies and 2012 was something of a banner year.
JackpotJoy broke out of the UK, launching a new Swedish site in March and a Belgian site in early December. Its Spanish site Botemania was launched in 2007 but marched on to rule Spain’s newly regulated market.
Of course it was the Facebook real money launch that really got tongues wagging. That Gamesys would be first should come as no surprise. Bingo was social before social gaming really existed, as bingo operators and suppliers love to say. And Gamesys’ geek culture matches that found in the average social games company. It was natural for the Gamesys geeks to check out Facebook games and it was natural for them to start developing them.
And generally speaking, Gamesys does not do anything badly. Gamesys has invested time in Facebook and hence, it was trusted to launch the first real money gaming on the platform. Founder Noel Hayden has said that initial analysis of Bingo Friendzy suggests social gamers who play for real money are worth more than regular real money gamblers.
That is the sort of talk that will get the industry even more excited about social gaming than it currently is. Gamesys is ahead of the pack and given its ambition, flair and passion for games, it will probably stay that way.

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