Scientific Games has signed an agreement to acquire instant games studio Sideplay Entertainment, bolstering its games content and advancing the development of its iLottery platform.
The Nasdaq technology group chose not to disclose financial terms of its agreement, in which it will acquire Sideplay’s full suite of +270 instant win games, boosting its services for the digital lotteries market.
Sideplay serves as the primary supplier of digital instant win games for the UK National Lottery and has a previous commercial relationship with Scientific Games Lottery unit that serves as the lead supplier of Sideplay games for Loto-Québec and the Pennsylvania Lottery.
“Sideplay’s highly-experienced digital game developers have a proven track record of delivering exceptional ilottery content to market quickly,” Scientific Games’ lottery group chief executive, Pat McHugh, commented.
“We have already integrated Sideplay’s digital games into our ilottery platforms and combining their unique approach to game development for Scientific Games’ more than 20 ilottery customers worldwide will accelerate our ilottery offerings for our customers and their players.”
The deal sees Scientific Games continue its M&A focus on building-up its game studio and content development capacities – which saw the firm acquire casino games studio Lightning Box last month.
Q2 trading saw record results garnered by SGC’s Lottery and Digital unit, which registered respective period revenues of $266 million (+27%) and $93 million (+27%).
The company’s return to post-pandemic growth saw the firm leadership underline the value of the firm’s lottery and betting units, which will be put up for sale as part of the firm’s ‘strategic deleveraging’ – as SGC transforms into a single vertical company.
Sideplay Founder and Director, Steve Hickson, added: “All of us at Sideplay are thrilled to be joining forces with Scientific Games, one of the world’s leading lottery suppliers.
“Our goal has always been to be the best at what we do, and this transaction shows that we have in fact achieved that level of success.“