It serves to bolster the presence of the firm within the Dutch market, as it continues to build its global presence.

Richard Dennys, CEO of Game Lounge, commented: “We are thrilled to welcome Martin and his team to Game Lounge. This acquisition aligns perfectly with our growth strategy and commitment to providing high-quality iGaming experiences to players worldwide. Meneer Casino’s strong reputation and deep understanding of the Dutch market make them an invaluable addition to our network.”

Meneer Casino focuses on in-depth reviews, guides, and comparisons of licensed online casinos, ensuring players can make informed decisions in a safe and regulated environment.

Martin van Geest, Founder and Chief Editor of Meneer Casino, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, added: “Joining forces with Game Lounge marks an exciting new chapter for Meneer Casino. At Meneer Casino, our mission is to provide players with honest, reliable information so they can make better choices and play smarter. We’re confident that Game Lounge’s expertise and resources will help us reach an even wider audience of Dutch players.”

Ben Robinson, Managing Partner of Corfai Capital, who brokered the deal, emphasised that it unites two ‘highly complementary businesses’, and underlined the significant value formed off the back of the collaboration.  

The acquisition comes amidst an interesting time for the Dutch market as political back and forth continues in the country. 

Most recently, Holland Casino outlined ambitions to strengthen support against the upcoming tax rises being proposed by the government in the Netherlands. 

The rises come following the 2025 Budget, which was presented by Dutch Finance Minister Eelco Heinen, who is serving under the cabinet of Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

It’s a budget that saw the casino announce plans to reduce operating hours across its venues in Rotterdam and Amsterdam starting next year. In addition, its branch in Zandvoort has already been confirmed for closure by February 2025.

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We caught up with Dennys about this approach and the evolving state of play for affiliates marketing in igaming, analysing recent changes to Google and the importance of data maximisation. 

Do you think AI can evolve the way affiliates engage with players?

Absolutely. AI can enhance the affiliate model by enabling personalised experiences for players. Through AI-driven tools, affiliates can analyse player behaviour in real-time, delivering content, promotions and offers that align with individual preferences. AI also helps affiliates optimise strategies more effectively, improving engagement and boosting conversion rates. The use of AI is already showing promising results in some of our back-office functions in tracking player referrals across multiple operator systems.

What challenges have come off the back of the most recent Google updates and how crucial has it been for affiliates to adapt? 

Google’s updates, especially those focusing on user experience and content quality, have presented challenges for affiliates that rely heavily on SEO-driven traffic. With the advent of automated bulk content and media generation systems in recent times, Google has faced a massive quality control issue and the recent updates through 2024 has been evidence of this and has already learned the signals to prioritise helpful content. 

More than ever, affiliates must continue to prioritise high-quality, engaging content and ensure their websites provide a seamless user experience with high rates of engagement. Those who haven’t adapted risk losing traffic and relevance, but those who embrace these changes will find more sustainable success in the long run from organic traffic sources.

Why is it so crucial the affiliates hold effective data strategies and maximise the wealth of data they have? 

Data and the insight it can provide is the lifeblood of successful affiliate marketing. Affiliates need robust data strategies to understand user behaviours, segment audiences effectively, and optimise campaigns in real-time. Data-driven insights allow affiliates to fine-tune marketing efforts, improve ROI and deliver better player experiences. Those who leverage data effectively can create a competitive edge in an industry that relies on precision and personalisation. As access to and deployment of AI and machine learning techniques improve, we are likely to see a great deal more intellectual capital begin to be developed in this critical area.

Can you give us more details about the Game Lounge company ethos and how it has evolved in recent years? 

Game Lounge is now laser-focused on leading innovation within the igaming affiliate industry. Our ethos is deeply rooted in being customer-centric while nurturing a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. Now, we’ve placed a stronger emphasis on building a supportive and dynamic environment for our team, underscored by our employee value proposition (EVP) to, “Level Up, Leap Forward,” which aims to empower employees to thrive both professionally and personally. This evolution mirrors our commitment to driving excellence, not just in business outcomes but also in how we support our talent and teams around the world.

Are you able to give us some more details about Employee Value Proposition and why they are so crucial to boosting company performance and morale? 

As mentioned, our EVP “Level Up, Leap Forward” message, will be key to nurturing a motivated, engaged workforce. It’s designed to show our team members whether onsite or remote, that they are not just contributors to a company machine, but are essential to our growth and innovation. By fostering an environment where personal development and professional growth is at the forefront, we believe our team will be more driven and motivated, which many studies have shown to directly influence company performance and employee retention. During our summer months we worked a four-day week too which had very positive results all round for motivation and morale.

Do you think operators can tap into influencers in order to engage with new audiences?

Yes, of course. Influencers in our case are more likely to be streamers and are a potentially untapped resource that operators can leverage to engage with new audiences, particularly emerging demographics who are already accustomed to consuming gaming-related content on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. 

These influencers have built trust with their communities, offering a unique way for operators to reach engaged players authentically. The key will also be to respect responsible gaming and be compliant with appropriate player safety safeguards.

What role do you believe affiliates can play when it comes to helping operators break into merging markets? 

Well of course we feel that affiliates are essential. We offer a fast route to operators entering emerging markets due to their local knowledge and established player acquisition channels. Affiliates such as ourselves at Game Lounge can offer operators insights into regional preferences, trends, and regulations, making market entry smoother and more successful. We serve as a bridge, localising global content and strategies to fit the cultural and legal nuances of new markets.

What impact do you think the banning of X (Twitter) will have on affiliate marketing strategies in Brazil?

Personally, I am not a big fan of X (Twitter) and its manipulation of the echo-chambers it creates and thrives amongst. The potential banning of X in Brazil will obviously disrupt affiliate marketing strategies that rely on social platforms for traffic and engagement. But any decent, sizable affiliate will have a broadly diversified channel mix and should be able to invest in alternative social media platforms or direct content strategies to mitigate this impact. Building strong SEO, email marketing and partnerships with local influencers could become even more crucial in compensating for the loss of such a key platform in an emerging market such as Brazil.

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According to Caroline Broman, Head of SEO at Betsson Group, this has been underlined by how Google has altered its approach to product reviews and guidelines as the site has sought to increase uniqueness in terms of user experience. 

Speaking on the ‘SEO and all things affiliated’ panel at the SBC Affiliates Day, Broman stated: “Overall, Google is changing how it is serving a good search experience – it is becoming more about relevance and uniqueness, as they also look deeper into the history of the searcher and their preferences. All in all, I’m not surprised about this, Google is following what the consumer wants and where the technology is heading.”

She also praised the potential impact of the content economy that continues to ‘boom’, with the industry being fuelled by the need to have more authentic voices and personalised content.. 

Andrea Belezza, VP of EU and Asia Pacific, Time2play Media (formerly KaFe Rocks) followed up by stating the importance of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EAT), and how improvements and evolution made within a company’s EAT can dictate growth across a business’ full spectrum of verticals’. 

Maria Sayapina, Director of Casino at Game Lounge, echoed this sentiment as she underlined that off the back of core updates last year, EAT can become crucial in the year ahead. At the heart of this is providing users with an experience that is safe and efficient, she stated. 

Building on what Broman said, Sayapina also detailed her belief that ‘the days of recycling copy on many sites are over’ – as she also outlined the vital avenue that personalisation will bring new levels of engagement for affiliates. 

This will involve far deeper research according to Sayapina, who emphasised that quality will take a lead over quantity for the industry. 

With the wave of AI embracing the industry, user generated content will be at the heart of what makes the industry grow in the year ahead stated, Ken Derwael, Director of Organic Performance, Better Collective. 

He emphasised that tapping into the human touch in terms of content and focusing on key differences is what sets apart human generated content when it comes to branding and personalisation.The panel was moderated by Ivana Flynn, SEO Director, ComeOn, who stated that while branding will truly be one of the key challenges, it will likely become easier to tap into for operators.

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This was the topic of conversation in one of the latest panel discussions at Malta’s CasinoBeats Summit, as representatives from both suppliers, operators and affiliates outlined the importance of meeting players’ expectations and optimising their experiences.

Led by SBC’s Managing Director Andrew McCarron, the ‘It’s not just a game – delivering immersive experiences’ panel began by questioning whether the introduction of new formats, mechanics and bonus features requires a level of education for the player for it to truly captivate them. 

Providing insight on this topic was Chris McGowan, Head of Gaming at Scatters, who suggested that, although there is a need for players to understand what they’re doing, too much in-game education can stunt player engagement.

McGowan said: “It is important that they understand what they’re doing, you don’t want the game to be way over complicated and they don’t have a clue where to start from. We’ve seen some games coming out where before you actually play the game, you first have to see a demo on how to play it.”

“I don’t think we should look at mobile and desktop in the same view”

Matthias Ciappara, CCO at CompetitionLabs

“The player is coming there for a relaxing time, and a good time, but they’re not there to come to school, right? If you can’t shout it to a passing car and they can’t understand it through a car window, it is already way over complicated.”

While mobile gaming continues to be a staple vertical for playing online casino products, the panel moved on to discuss whether bringing the desktop experience to mobile players might be a cause for concern. 

Matthias Ciappara, CCO at CompetitionLabs, believed that comparing mobile and desktop experiences is somewhat unnecessary, stating: “I don’t think we should look at mobile and desktop in the same view.”

“When we’re playing on mobile, you have a basic screen size and my eyes can only consume so much information before I get anxiety. If you have too many things in one go I either don’t understand what’s happening or feel anxiety because I’m not sure what to do.”

“If a player starts losing money and is not understanding what is happening, the player is never going to come back.” 

Looking into the psychology behind Ciappara’s notion of focus and player retention, McGowan explained that the average player can only focus on so much at once, and when a game session becomes tough they tend to focus on one thing only. 

He stated: “In psychology, we’ve got a magic number seven. Seven plus or minus two. Some people can focus on nine things, but I might focus on about five things. So, reels that are more than that become extremely complicated.” 

“One thing that is quite interesting is a group of researchers found that when they’re [players] concentrating on the game and they lose pretty much everything going on around them, eye tracking software has found that the only thing they are focusing on, or 90 per cent of the time, is actually the in-game balance.”

“you need to have a full vision of how a player will experience your product”

Kristjan Farrugia, CPO at WKND

“When we have too many features we are actually distracting from this, it’s harder for the player to maintain being in the zone of their game session. So, while some certain features and animations are nice, it comes down to: do you really want to captivate their attention, or not?”

The panel were also joined by Kristjan Farrugia, CPO at WKND, who, due to his role, was questioned whether UX teams should have an earlier involvement in developing new gambling products. To put it simply, Farrugia replied “100 per cent”. 

He continued: “You need to have a full vision of how a player will experience your product, and that would mean that everything should evolve from that. Ultimately, we’re here to entertain people.” 

Bringing a supplier’s perspective to this subject, Ciappara responded by stating that he definitely agrees, explaining: “I can design the most amazing mechanic ever but if it can’t be presented to a player in an undisciplined fashion, that feature won’t work.”

Ciappara added: “Bringing the UX team as fast as possible, to even just the creation phase, makes much less back and forth when you’re four months down the line and you start realising that the feature isn’t going to work, because UX will not click.”

“It’s about trying to get as many people as possible in the room that can bring different perspectives and ideologies to create a more cohesive product.”

The final panellist providing insight on the topic of immersive experiences was Jason Attard, Head of UX & Design at Game Lounge, who touched on the subject of operator patience when it comes to offering new games and features. 

Upon being questioned how much time a provider has to convince an operator when supplying them with new products, Attard stated that the igaming sector is “a very fast paced industry”.

He continued: “When it comes to stuff like this, it is going to be very challenging, especially when we are always trying to be agile while delivering the best product that we can.” 

“Unless vr technology changes to where you don’t need bulky headsets, I don’t think it will take off”

Chris McGowan, Head of Gaming at Scatters

This led to Attard voicing ways in which suppliers can work around the time deficiency when supplying games to operators, citing reskinned products as an easy way to reduce the turnaround time and guarantee operator satisfaction. 

With igaming constantly evolving alongside emerging technological advancements, McCarron posed an interesting question about the possibility of utilising VR in the online casino world, due to its prominence in the video game industry.

However, most panellists were quick to explain that there is too much in the way between VR and satisfactory gaming experiences. 

“Unless VR technology changes to the point where you don’t need bulky headsets, I personally don’t think it will take off,” claimed McGowan. 

“We’re saying that players want to be playing in a five-minute break, or a lunch break or while waiting for the bus. Do people really want to be walking around with a heavy box just to play a slot game?” 

While Attard suggested there is a clear potential for VR with a case for table game usage, suggesting roulette as a good fit, he pointed out that players using VR for social reasons like playing with friends “might as well just go to the casino”. 

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Citing the change as a “commitment to Japanese users’ tendency towards word blends”, the rebrand has seen the website change names from JapaneseCasino to JAPCASI. 

“Localisation is crucial for any international company operating in a variety of countries,” explained Jonas Cederholm, CEO of Game Lounge. “While this has always been at the forefront of our approach, we felt we could go further by rebranding and redesigning.

“At Game Lounge, we are privileged to have seven Japanese working for the company, and it made sense for us to listen to the team and work on how we should adapt to attract more local punters with our understanding of the nuances of the market.”

Japanesecasino.com was first launched in Japan in 2016 with the vision of a European product embedded in Japanese ideas. Game Lounge noted that, due to a “market growth spurt” the current Eurasian UI/UX of the website had to undergo an “extensive redesign” to stay ahead of its competitors. 

Game Lounge’s Team Japan, consisting of seven native Japanese nationals, felt the new design should capture the “overwhelming sensory experience” that Japanese consumers are accustomed to with animated banners, clashing colours, vivid images, and a more central focus on the current Kawaii characters.

Rika M, Site Manager for Japan, added: “I received much intimate feedback from our partner casinos about the type of advertising they want for their brands in this unique market, which has allowed us to create a new website that has better conversion elements in this market.”

The website already has an established collection of Kawaii characters, which have become recognisable mascots for the brand in Japan. With the new JAPACASI, these characters are further developed with more affluent personalities and more prominence to resonate with the local culture.

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The collaboration will see Game Lounge manage the commercial elements of Yggdrasil’s affiliate site, Yggdrasil Casino. This shares official insights about all the titles in Yggdrasil’s games portfolio such as slot RTP, default bet size, max wins, bet ranges and slot volatility, and also guides players to the “best online casinos” to play the games. 

Fredrik Elmqvist, CEO of Yggdrasil, said of the partnership: “Our partnership with leading affiliate company Game Lounge will strengthen our affiliate site, Yggdrasil Casino, by expanding our capabilities with a world-class affiliate sales team and SEO talent. We are strong ambassadors in playing to each other’s strengths and this deal demonstrates just that.

“Our gaming expertise combined with Game Lounge’s lead generation skills will enable us to bring a truly unique asset to the affiliate space, including unique game IP to customers and operators alike.”

Founded in 2015, Game Lounge will use its SEO expertise in a bid to ensure that Yggdrasil’s games and content reach an even wider audience of players. The firm currently operates more than 150 sites across thirteen markets, including the US, Nordics, Germany, UK, and Japan.

Jonas Cederholm, founder of Game Lounge, said: “We are thrilled to partner with such a strong supplier as Yggdrasil and to help them further push their brand and exciting games portfolio. With their unique products and our vast knowledge and access to numerous markets we are certain this will be a successful collaboration benefiting all parties.”

This follows a deal inked earlier in the week that will see Yggdrasil distribute its catalogue of slots to Enlabs-owned brand Opitbet, which will gain a portfolio of games which includes Hyperburst, Jackpot Express, Lucky Neko Gigablox, and Valley of the Gods 2.

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Via the deal the Cherry subsidiary states that Aftonbladet it is to be provided with an additional marketing channel to market, operate and manage customer contacts to the casino sites holding Swedish licences, with the re-regulated market scheduled to begin on the first day of the new year.

Under the terms of the agreement Game Lounge is to deliver a comparison site for casino and betting, together with related content and technology solutions, a development the firm labels as an “important factor” in achieving profit levels indicated upon Cherry’s acquisition of the remaining shares in Game Lounge Sweden earlier in the year.

Jonas Cederholm, CEO of Game Lounge, explained: “This transaction illustrates the future of the media market, where partnerships will play a central role. We will be able to find synergies between one another there and benefit from each other’s expertise.

“We are pleased that Schibsted chose to use our technology to develop its business in today’s undeniably fierce media landscape. This gives us the strength to show that we can provide such a large publicist with the best technology.”

“Aftonbladet is Sweden’s largest news site with more than 3.4 million visitors every day, making it Sweden’s most popular source of news,” added Joakim Flodin, sales director at Schibsted. “We look forward to a prosperous cooperation with Game Lounge, for many years to come.”

This comes as Cherry becomes one of the latest organisations to be granted a licence by Swedish regulator the Lotteriinspektionen, after being given the green light on all eight of its gaming and betting applications.

“Although, the licence applications have involved a considerable amount of work, we are convinced that the Swedish regulations provide better conditions for gaming operators, our customers as well as for us as a company and therefore also for our shareholders. Sweden is an important market and we intend to continue growing from our already strong position,” explained Gunnar Lind, president and CEO of Cherry.

The trademarks that have been granted licences for online gaming and betting commencing January, 1, 2019 are: Casinostugan, Cherry Casino, ComeOn, Hajper, Mobilautomaten, Snabbare and two partner brands.

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Cherry’s Independent Bid Committee – set up specifically to consider the bid on the board’s behalf but excluding chairman Klein – has recommended shareholders accept the public offer of SEK87 (€8.46) in cash per share submitted by European Entertainment Intressenter BidCo.

EE Intressenter is a company jointly controlled by Bridgepoint Advisers, which is acting of behalf of a series of partnerships, namely Bridgepoint Europe VI Fund, Prunus Avium, Klein Group , Audere Est Facere , Pontus Lindwall, Berkay Reyhan and Can Yilanlioglu.

The total value of the offer is approximately SEK9.193bn (€893m), fully financed through a combination of equity provided by Bridgepoint and the other members of the consortium and debt financing provided by Ares Management.

The acceptance period is expected to start on or around December 20 and run until January 23, 2019, subject to any extensions.

One condition of completion is that EE Intressenter becomes the owner of more than 90 per cent of the total number of outstanding shares in Cherry.

EE Intressenter does not own any shares in Cherry at present although the members of the consortium own a total of 50,100,368 shares, corresponding to approximately 47.4 per cent of the total number of shares and 37.9 per cent of the total number of votes in the company.

In a statement, Cherry said that irrevocable undertakings to accept the offer have been received from shareholders representing 12,298,332 shares, meaning the consortium holds shares – or have secured commitments to accept the offer – corresponding to 59.1 per cent of the capital and 66.5 per cent of the votes.

The Independent Bid Committee consisting of Gunnar Lind, Johan Moazed and Jörgen Olsson was established on October 16. Rolf Åkerlind was elected to the board of directors on November 21 and has since joined the bid committee.

The Independent Bid Committee’s recommendation highlighted a number of considerations in connection with the offer, notably that the bid represents a premium of 20 per cent compared to the closing price of Cherry’s series B shares on Nasdaq Stockholm on December 17, the last trading day before the announcement of the offer.

The offer also corresponds to a premium of 28 per cent compared to the volume-weighted average share price of Cherry’s series B shares on Nasdaq Stockholm during the last 90 trading days and 59.6 per cent compared to the closing price on October 15, the day before the board received the written offer.

The committee also stressed that several of those individuals in the consortium “have a long ownership history and deep understanding of the company’s operations and future prospects”.

These include Jonas Cederholm, Game LoungeCEO and co-founder; Fredrik Langeland (co-founder of Game Lounge); Per Hamberg and Lars Kling (both Cherry founders).

EE Intressenter has said the consortium believes that Cherry will be able to “maximise value by focusing on driving the performance of the individual business units rather than managing the combined entity as a publicly listed company.”

Further it is stated that Bridgepoint and the other members of the consortium place great value on Cherry’s management and employees and expect that the offer will support continued growth and create “long-term positive effects for Cherry and its employees, customers and other stakeholders impacted by the operations of Cherry”.

The Cherry statement continued: “Thus, it is the assessment of the Independent Bid Committee that the offeror would be a good owner of the company in the coming years, which has been taken into consideration in the decision on a recommendation.”

The news breaks as Cherry’s home market of Sweden prepares to launch its re-regulated igaming market on January 1.

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The online gaming affiliate, a subsidiary of Cherry AB, is to establish operations within New jersey following the acquisition of the premium domain name BetNJ.com, targeting sports betting and casino in the state.

Continuing its strategy of complimenting “the organic expansion of the business with targeted acquisitions,” Game Lounge has also announced the acquisition of Mexican domain OnlineCasino.mx.

Jonas Cederholm, chief executive officer of Game Lounge, explained: “Both of these premium domains are well placed, and are extremely intuitive. We foresee great opportunities to use these domains for our continued efforts in North America.

“In the United States, the Supreme Court has repealed PASPA, thus opening up a huge market for sports betting. The driving force is New Jersey, and the state has now legalised betting on sports, and we see great opportunities to expand our model to help players find the game options that will be offered to customers in states that already have laws in place.

“The proposed regulation of the Mexican gaming market makes us positive about our opportunities to take a strong position in a new market for us.”

In its press statement Game Lounge went on to give further details of its acquisitions: “With the acquisition of BetNJ.com, the company will establish operations within the regulated market in New Jersey, US.

“The website OnlineCasino.mx will become a strong foothold for the large Mexican gaming market, which is valued at around 850 million euros by the independent data specialist H2 Gambling Capital.”

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Group revenue rose by 26 per cent to SEK681m (€63.9m) while EBITDA leapt by 131 per cent to SEK192m (€18m) with an EBITDA margin of 28 per cent, up from 15 per cent in Q1, 2017. Group profit for the three months to March 31 amounted to SEK89m (€8.35m).

It was a busy period for Cherry which in January completed the acquisitions of Get Lucky, through ComeOn, and Slottracker.com, which was acquired through Game Lounge.

The wheels of growth kept turning into Q2, with Game Lounge last month acquiring SEO specialist TodaysWeb and the group taking an additional 7.5 per cent of the shares in Almor Holding, meaning that Cherry now holds 90 per cent of Almor shares.

“We can look forward to another eventful year,” said Cherry CEO Anders Holmgren in a statement.

“The first quarter shows that Cherry’s business model yields good results. Growth continued with increased profitability, and we see good prospects for 2018 becoming a good year for Cherry’s shareholders.

“In 2017, we have taken steps, large and small, to strengthen existing market positions – at the same time as we have invested in the future. I am proud of the entrepreneurial power of the employees within all of the group’s companies. This is one of the most important reasons for being able to offer our customers good products as well as for having a stable financial basis for continued development,” he said.

Hinting at moves ahead in 2018, Holmgren added: “There are ongoing efforts within Cherry’s business areas to launch several new products that we believe will create interest among existing customers. Equally important are the efforts several of the companies are making in new market segments.

“For our industry as a whole, 2018 will be a year with several significant events. We are seeing ongoing discussions regarding regulation of the gaming market in different countries, legislation that in various ways affects the gaming companies operating in the industry, as well as customer demand and expectations that are changing faster than ever before.”

Posting its results, Cherry said the outlook was good. The company expects to continue its successful profitable growth, “through both organic growth and acquisitions, in existing and new verticals, and geographic markets.”

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