River iGaming has undergone a busy period of late, building a series of content deals alongside Nolimit City, Wazdan and Betsoft, before securing the £11.5m purchase of Gaming Realms’ UK real money operating subsidiary Bear Group, at the end of February.
As a result of the acquisition, River iGaming secured Vegas Casino, Pocket Fruity, Britain’s Got Talent Games, Spin Genie, X Factor Games and a number of small casinos currently operated by Bear Group.
As part of the announcement, it was detailed that the company would primarily target development of a series of unique brands through River UK, as well as leveraging synergies between different operations in Europe, on a B2C and B2B basis.
Following the purchase, Kent Staahle, CEO of River iGaming, has been speaking to CasinoBeats about the deal, the regulated UK environment and Nordic ambitions.
CasinoBeats: Why is this purchase by River iGaming so significant? What benefits does it open up and why was a more B2B focused approach so important?
Kent Staahle: With this acquisition, River iGaming will get a broader ownership of the value chain from a 360-degree perspective, meaning we would be able to control and deliver all variables from start to finish.
This great moment was always in the pipeline since day one, and although this exciting opportunity has come slightly earlier than originally planned, it’s one we’re ready to embrace from the get-go. It will help push us a great deal faster into the B2B business aspect of things we have planned for the future.
We are also going to use this platform and sell it off as B2B products, both as standalone offerings, as well as module based, which will not only contain marketing and game tech tools, but gamification too.
Saying that, there is also a strong focus on our B2C strategy too, as embarking on this journey means we would be able to do our own in-house development on our B2C verticals at a much greater speed.
“We are aware of the difficulties other companies have had in order to adapt into its regulations”
In return, we would be broaching into new tech new marketing advantages and more customer-oriented solutions at a faster pace, which we like the sound of.
CB: Confirming the deal, Gaming Realms pointed to difficulties of the regulated UK environment, what is your take?
KS: We’re proud to say that we at River iGaming are a company that operates within regulated environments. With the UK market being one of the biggest and most important markets out there, we are aware of the difficulties other companies have had in order to adapt into its regulations, but this is where we thrive best.
As a brand-new set up, predominantly within a tech-based development, we have a better stance in delivering efficient and profitable positions.
CB: What does the immediate future hold for River iGaming following this deal, what becomes the next aim/target?
KS: River iGaming was first conceived and readily available back in November 2017, and we have shown to the market that we are willing to take a fast and controlled growth within the different parts of our 360-degree vision.
“We definitely do see a launch in Sweden too, the instant we obtain our Swedish licence”
We will keep on going down that route we’ve come so far on, but our main focus in the short-term will be to develop and increase the value of what we have already acquired and delivered in-house, from B2C solutions and commercial use, as well as our B2B offerings in a broader manner.
CB: The launch of Casonic was detailed towards the end of 2018, why was the Finnish market of particular interest? And what further regions are on the River iGaming radar moving forward?
KS: The fantastic thing about Casonic is that it’s an instant cash-out casino, due to the competitive nature of the market it is in, it booms in the fact that everything happens with such speed and the use of BankID simplifies ease of use.
With that fact, its segment orientation is based around countries like Finland and Sweden. Due to the process of obtaining a Swedish licence, we as of now, have only launched Casonic in Finland.
We definitely do see a launch in Sweden too, the instant we obtain our Swedish licence, together with any other markets that offer instant payment solutions and BankID.
