One of the UK’s largest gambling companies has been sold for £60 million, in a move which has shocked the bingo market. Mandalay Media which owns Costa Bingo and bgo Bingo (formerly XBingo), as well as newer bingo sites Rio Bingo, Sing Bingo, City Bingo, and Fancy Bingo, has been purchased by the Intertain Group.

The deal is subject to Intertain securing the finance from capital providers, and is expected to successfully go through. Intertain, through CryptoLogic Operations Limited, currently offers a variety of online gaming. The company specializes in poker and casino, and has been a market leader with InterCasino and InterPoker since 1996. However, the group have struggled to break into the bingo market, and they ceased operating their site Inter Bingo on a pay-to-play basis in 2012.

It is believed the acquisition of Mandalay will reverse this. Mandalay was launched in 2009. Most of Mandalay’s sites operate on Dragonfish software, although bgo Bingo operates on a unique platform. In the financial year ending August 31, 2013, Mandalay generated approximately £16.1 million in revenue and approximately £7.9 million in net income. Intertain are hoping for significant increases on these results this coming year following the acquisition of Mandalay and having already invested in high-profile marketing campaigns this year, featuring Mel B and Verne Troyer.

John Kennedy FitzGerald, CEO of Intertain, said: “We are excited about the acquisition of Mandalay Media, which will add substantial free cash flow to our existing business. “This bingo acquisition will add a missing gaming vertical, a bingo-focused marketing team, diversify our current casino offering and is expected to be materially accretive to earnings per share and free cash flow. In addition to these important milestones, our existing brand, InterBingo(TM) will now have a leading bingo platform to reside.”

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