Evolution recently announced its acquisition of a rival named Ezugi. The gaming company will acquire Ezugi with an initial cash payment of $12 million. This amount can be topped by $6 million if the special clause is fulfilled, and the rest will be paid later in cash.
Evolution was founded back in 2006. It is a game-changer that kept the real-time dealer games alive. It has also aptly evolved this game genre over the years, thus resulting in a multitude of awards and accolades. It is the company behind the most popular games, many of these are featured at Arabian Casinos with Live Roulette game.
It first forayed into European markets. Four years later, it won the EGR Live Casino Software Supplier of the Year. By this time, the company has already signed several contracts with gambling operators like 888, William Hill, and Ladbrokes.
Over the years, the software developer expanded its offerings. It launched its mobile platform, enabling casinos to offer inter-resort connectivity. As early as 2012, the management had the foresight to expand the context of real-dealer online games. It launched its own version of real-time Hold’em poker, along with broadcasts of the Lottomatica Vegas Club Live Casino TV show.
The Ezugi Acquisition
Ezugi is a tough rival. It operates in nine studios globally, and it offers a total of 78 tables comprised of 18 different dealer games. The acquisition will take Evolution’s geographic footprint to Latin America, South Africa, and the United States.
According to Evolution, this acquisition is going to increase its revenue by 2% and 4%. This projection will impact how the investing public will view the company, and might bump its shares on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
The Unibet Partnership
The company also recently announced that it would work in partnership with Unibet to offer its games in the United States. Unibet is a sports booking company owned by Kindred, a company that has 11 gambling assets.
This partnership is not entirely new as the two companies already share the European market, particularly the table games. In the United States, Unibet will start offering its live games on its websites in New Jersey. The live games will be hosted by Evolution Gaming, which recently inaugurated its new studio in Atlantic City.
The Live Texas Hold’Em
While a vast majority of software developers have a narrow focus on blackjack, roulette, and baccarat, Evolution introduced a live version of Texas Hold’Em in 2018. The game has a progressive jackpot of €50,000, which the developer funded on the first day of the game’s release.
It was an unusual move that fans appreciated. Rarely will a game developer fund a jackpot progressive jackpot because it is supposed to come from the accumulated bets of the punters.
The live game also offers a 1,000:1 payout ratio for its bonus bets. The success of the game also prompted the software developer to launch other variants like Three Card Poker and Caribbean Stud, all happening live from their studios.
Since the company is the pioneer in these games, it has secured the necessary patents and licences to give them the rights to offer these games exclusively until such time the patent expires.
The Infinite Black
In the same year, 2018, the software developer launched the Infinite Black, a live blackjack table that has no limit to the number of players joining the table. Typically, a blackjack table has a maximum of five players, be it real-time online or in a land-based casino.
The Infinite Black is a new, daring, and innovative game because it puts a casino in a position to take as many players without the need to add new real-time people dealers. In a real-time, real-person dealer game, you have a table somewhere in a studio. The table is managed by a person, the dealer, and the dealer can only deal with five hands at a time.
If you want more players, you need another table that another person will manage.
And if you really think about it, an infinite number of players mean that the blackjack card deck must also be infinite. This proposition entails that your odds will also be severely impacted. But this is not the case because it uses a standard deck. The cards deal will literally disappear from the table after the deal.
Summary
Evolution Gaming has had numerous accolades in the past. And because the management has decided to focus on a single niche, it has become a dominant player and go-to company in the live table games genre.
Holding the reins of technology and innovation, we should not be surprised if the company decides to venture into the world of virtual gaming, particularly with the use of VR gears.
Although this technology is young, Evolution is in a good position to pioneer a true VR gambling facility where players can walk around a virtual reality casino, and talk to real dealers located in a studio.
