Maltese eSports and online gambling firm Esports Entertainment Group Incorporated is continuing the industry’s recent mergers and acquisitions trend by announcing the signing of a deal to purchase iGaming operator Bethard Group Limited for $19.5 million in cash.

Headquartered in the Valletta suburb of Birkirkara, the buyer used an official Tuesday press release to detail that the agreement is expected to close from the first day of July and also see former owner Gameday Group receive 12% of its newest acquisition’s net gaming revenues until the end of 2023.

American access:

Esports Entertainment Group Incorporated inked an alliance with land-based casino operator Bally’s Corporation last summer that is to see it enter the embryonic American iGaming market via a service operated under a license held by its partner’s 1,251-room Bally’s Atlantic City property. Already certified by regulators in Malta, Ireland, Curacao and the United Kingdom, the company revealed at the time that this understanding will allow its GMBL New Jersey Incorporated subsidiary to bring real-money multi-player mobile and PC video game tournaments to punters located across the eastern state of New Jersey.

Supplemental situation:

Grant Johnson serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Esports Entertainment Group Incorporated and he used the press release to explain that the coming purchase is destined to complement this earlier arrangement by giving his firm iGaming licenses for Sweden and Spain. He moreover proclaimed that Bethard Group Limited generated net gaming revenues of around $31 million last year with its acquisition set to increase his own company’s aggregated 2022 receipts by at least $5 million to somewhere in the region of $105 million.

Read a statement from Johnson…

“This is another great addition for Esports Entertainment Group Incorporated that substantially increases our revenues and available markets. With this transaction we expect to gain two new gaming licenses including one in the strategically important Swedish market to give us six tier-one licenses.”

Prominent praise:

Esports Entertainment Group Incorporated described Bethard Group Limited, which was established in 2012, as ‘an iGaming company that offers sportsbetting and casino games online’ via the domain at Bethard.com. It stated that the operator furthermore has ‘a strong focus on responsible gambling’ courtesy of ‘best-in-class compliance functions’ so as ‘to act properly and in a sustainable way in regulated markets.’

International intensification:

Maintaining offices in Malta, New Jersey and the United Kingdom, Esports Entertainment Group Incorporated finished by citing the online market research domain at ResearchAndMarkets.com in asserting that the value of the global gaming market last year hit $167.9 billion and is expected to grow by about 9.2% year-on-year to reach $287.1 billion by the end of 2026.