The story
Early years and 2010s
Gaming Innovation Group Ltd. was initially incorporated in 2008 as Donkr International Ltd. in Malta.
In 2012, Guts Gaming Ltd. (now MT SecureTrade Limited) was incorporated as a fully owned Gaming Innovation Group Ltd subsidiary. In May 2013, the company launched Guts.com, a website offering sports betting and casino games.
In early 2015, iGamingCloud Ltd., a B2B platform service for the iGaming industry, was launched (GiG Core). The product went live in February 2015. In the same month, Gaming Innovation Group and Nio Inc. signed iGaming Cloud and sportsbook (GiG Sports) supported by GiG's fully managed services.
In May 2015, Optimizer Invest acquired 10% of iGaming Cloud Ltd for consideration of €1m. In addition, there was a Share Exchange Agreement to exchange the entire issued share capital of Gaming Innovation Group PLC. for shares in Nio Inc. Subsequently, Nio inc. adopted the name of Gaming Innovation Group Inc. and appointed Robin Reed as its new CEO. The month after, Gaming Innovation Group was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
The company expanded into the affiliate industry in iGaming by a series of acquisitions. GiG subsidiary Innovation Labs (GiG Media) acquired affiliate network Spaseeba for 27m GiG shares. GiG Media also acquired affiliate networks in respectively Finland and Estonia.
In January 2016 the company launched the B2C casino brand Rizk.com. Later on in March, the company acquired the sports betting company OddsModel AS for consideration of 21.74 million new Shares. In June 2016 Gaming Innovation Group acquired Betit Holdings adding the three iGaming operators Kaboo.com, SuperLenny.com, and Thrills.com to its portfolio of B2C focused brands (notably Rizk.com and Guts.com before the Betit acquisition). As part of the deal, Optimizer Invest increased its ownership of GiG shares. The company also continued its expansion within the media business by acquiring Dutch affiliate network Delta Markets B.V. as well as Swedish affiliate network Magenti Media.
In 2017, GiG acquired the technology-driven performance marketing company Rebel Penguin ApS for a total amount of €13 million. This acquisition concluded GiG Media being established as a multi-channel affiliate, operating both a publishing unit (organic rankings on search engines) as well as a paid marketing unit. A new B2C brand called Highroller was also launched.
2018 was the signing of a deal with Hard Rock Casino, with an initial launch in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The company also launched its marketing compliance tool targeted at the online gambling segment, GiG Comply. An in-house sportsbook on Rizk.com was launched just ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. During the year of 2018, GiG obtained a betting license in the German state Schleswig-Holstein, part of the DACH region.
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In January 2019, GiG launched the Hard Rock omnichannel in New Jersey. On 26 March 2019, the company began trading on the Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker symbol 'GIGSEK'. In August 2019, Gaming Innovation Group sold its HighRoller brand to Ellmount Gaming, stating that their core focus will be primarily on growing Rizk as a casino brand and Guts as a sports betting brand. The HighRoller brand was sold for approx. €7m (3.5 PV).
During the year of 2019, Kindred Group was signed on the new GiG Comply product. The company also partnered with Skycity, a market leader in New Zealand, for its online casino platform. In September 2019, GiG launched its digital and retail sportsbook with Hard Rock Cafe International in Iowa.
2020s
In April 2020, Gaming Innovation Group divested its B2C operations to Betsson, for a total of €31m with a premium fee on the platform service. From this point onwards, the intention is to be a purely B2B company, focused on its platform services (GiG Core) as well as its media/affiliate services (GiG Media).
In July 2020, GiG subsidiary iGaming Cloud Inc. was granted a permanent casino service industry enterprise license (CSIE) from the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) in New Jersey, United States. The application was filed in June 2018 with GiG supporting Hard Rock International's casino operations in New Jersey under a so-called transactional waiver until the final approval was awarded.
In July 2020, GiG signed a long-term agreement with Mill of Magic Ltd, a subsidiary of Casumo, to supply its platform, data platform and GiG Logic for a Pay N Play casino brand licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority.
In February 2021, the company signed a long-term agreement with PlayStar Casino to enter New Jersey. That year, GiG obtained ISO 27001:2021 certification for the Frontend development solution and content management system, covering development, network configuration, infrastructure and associated product operations for frontend, middleware and backend Gaming services hosted on GiG's infrastructure. In May, the company completed a successful placement of a SEK 450 million senior secured bond, extending its total borrowing limit. The transaction was oversubscribed and received strong demand from investors across the Nordics, continental Europe, and the US, with participation in the placement from existing and new investors. In June, PlayStar Casino agreement was extended to cover the burgeoning Pennsylvanian market. In December, the company signed a long-term agreement to provide the Platform with Rank Holdings for their Marina888 brand. A share purchase agreement was announced to purchase Sportnco, a specialist in online sports betting.
Present day
In April 2022, GiG signed an agreement with Betway to provide Sportnco's sportsbook and player account management in Portugal. The same month, Sportnco acquisition is completed in a €51.5 deal. GiG Media won the iGB Affiliate award for Casino affiliate of the year at the 2022 event in London. In May 2022, the company signed an agreement with Full Games SA to provide player management and sports betting services in Angola, a new regulated market.
In January 2024, ahead of the ICE London trade show, GiG launched its next-generation platform CoreX and sportsbook SportX, together with the AI-driven products DataX and LogicX as part of a new "X-Suite" product range. The legal split of the group's media and platform businesses was completed on 30 September 2024, with the platform business continuing as GiG Software plc and the media business becoming the independently listed Gentoo Media Inc. GiG Software's shares began trading on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market under the ticker "GIG SDB" on 1 October 2024. Following the restructuring, the company identified Finland, Brazil, France and New Zealand as priority markets for commercial growth, with Brazil's federally regulated online betting market opening to licensed operators on 1 January 2025.
From Wikipedia’s article on Gaming Innovation Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4