Editors note: This story was updated on April 26 to reflect the completion of the Aristocrat/NeoGames acquisition following the approved shareholder vote on April 25.
It’s been quite a saga for Aristocrat and NeoGames. Aristocrat agreed to purchase NeoGames to the tune of $962 million in 2023. After a year of work toward making it happen, this week brought a significant leap forward.
On Thursday, the Nevada Gaming Control Board officially gave the acquisition the green light.
The approval isn’t all that surprising, considering the Nevada Gaming Control Board expressed its collective support for the acquisition earlier this month. That support heralded a full-on approval when the NGCB convened on April 18.
Aristocrat will now gain strong market access in the US online lottery space, further enhancing the company’s already-large presence in the gambling world. NeoGames produces gaming content for online lottery sites run by the Michigan Lottery, New Hampshire Lottery, North Carolina Lottery, Georgia Lottery, and Virginia Lottery. Those partnerships will become Aristocrat’s.
The approval also included granting a license to Tracey Elkerton, Chief Compliance Officer for Aristocrat.
“We believe this transaction will be transformational to our business and lay the foundation to fulfill our ambitions to be a leader in online gaming,” Elkerton told the NGCB.
Following this consent, NeoGames shareholders completed the final step of the process on April 25 by giving their own approval. Moti Malul, Chief Executive Officer of Neo, said:
“We are excited to have successfully closed this transaction and joined forces with the Aristocrat team to further drive our success across iLottery, iGaming, and online sports betting. We firmly believe that this Transaction represents a great outcome for all of Neo’s shareholders, customers and employees. We are very grateful to all our stakeholders who have supported us since our inception. I would also like to thank all our employees for their commitment in making Neo the great company it is today.”
Aristocrat and NeoGames: Who’s who
Aristocrat is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of slot games, casino technology, and other gambling-related fare. Casino enthusiasts might know Aristocrat as the developer of Buffalo (the original and many sequels, which spawned dozens of copycats).
Meanwhile, NeoGames is an iLottery and iGaming company. In addition to providing all sorts of tech for those lines of business, NeoGames also has two in-house game development studios.
Earlier this week, NeoGames appointed Christopher Shaban as its Managing Director of iLottery. Shaban was an internal hire, having served in the role of EVP Global Business and Customer Development for three years before the promotion.
What happens next?
Aristocrat is closer than ever to buttoning up its acquisition of NeoGames, and only a few steps remain following this key approval.
Shareholder approval is one of the largest steps ahead, but it is not much of an obstacle. Shareholders have previously expressed their support with a pretty strong majority. That makes the coming vote a formality, essentially. The shareholders vote on April 25, and the company expects the deal to close shortly following that approval.
Image by PlayiLottery
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