In June 2020, Evolution Gaming, the dominant name in live-dealer casino streaming, agreed to buy NetEnt, a pioneer of online slots since 1996, in a deal worth about $2.1 billion. Both companies were Swedish. The deal put live casino and slots under one roof, slashed tens of millions in overlapping costs, and pushed Evolution deeper into the fast-growing US market, with a bonus prize built in: NetEnt had recently bought the slot studio Red Tiger, so Evolution got two top-tier slot studios for the price of one purchase.
What did each company actually do before the deal?
Evolution and NetEnt led two different, adjacent parts of the same industry. Evolution was the undisputed leader in live-dealer casino games, streaming real croupiers dealing real cards from high-tech studios around the world. NetEnt was a legendary pioneer in online slots, building fan-favorite games since 1996. They were not head-to-head competitors so much as the two biggest names in two different product categories that most casino operators needed both of.
Why did Evolution want to buy NetEnt specifically?
For three reasons, all pointing the same direction: consolidation. First, putting live casino and online slots under one company meant a single supplier could offer operators both product categories instead of two. Second, combining operations meant slashing tens of millions of dollars in costs that had been duplicated across two separate companies, finance, technology infrastructure, corporate overhead. Third, the deal gave Evolution a stronger platform to expand aggressively into the US market, which was opening up fast for regulated online gambling right around this time.
What was the Red Tiger bonus?
A second slot studio, essentially for free. A year before Evolution's purchase, NetEnt had already acquired Red Tiger Gaming, another respected slot developer, in a deal worth about $270 million. When Evolution bought NetEnt in 2020, Red Tiger came along with it. Instead of one acquisition getting Evolution one slots company, it got two established, well-regarded studios in a single transaction, immediately widening its slots catalog beyond what buying NetEnt alone would have delivered.
What actually changed once the deal closed?
Live casino and slots stopped being run as two separate businesses. NetEnt's own live casino division, which had existed alongside its slots business, was shut down entirely once the deal closed, since Evolution already dominated that category and there was no reason to run two competing live casino operations inside the same company. The focus shifted to consolidating slot development under the NetEnt and Red Tiger brands while Evolution's existing live casino operation absorbed everything else. Within a couple of quarters, the combined company was reporting sharply higher revenue, driven directly by the newly combined slots and live casino businesses working as one supplier instead of two.
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The bottom line
Evolution did not just buy a competitor, it merged live casino and digital slots to create one of the biggest B2B suppliers in iGaming, picking up a second slot studio along the way almost by accident. Two Swedish companies that had each dominated a different corner of the industry became one company that dominated both.
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Key takeaways
- Evolution Gaming was the leading name in live-dealer casino streaming, while NetEnt had been a leading online slots developer since 1996.
- Both companies were Swedish. In June 2020, Evolution agreed to buy NetEnt in a deal worth about $2.1 billion.
- The deal put live casino and online slots under one company, cut tens of millions in overlapping operational costs, and pushed Evolution deeper into the fast-growing US market.
- NetEnt had acquired the slot studio Red Tiger in 2019 for about $270 million, so Evolution picked up two established slot studios in a single purchase.
- The deal closed in late 2020, after clearing the relevant legal and regulatory thresholds.
- The combined company became one of the largest B2B suppliers in iGaming, spanning both live casino and digital slots.
