Betfred have bought online bingo site Bucky Bingo from the owners of the Buckingham Bingo chain after they sold their main bingo halls to Club 3000.
The sale adds two extra sites – Bucky Bingo and BOGOF Bingo – to Betfred's exisiting Betfred Bingo site. The sites all run on Playtech's Virtue Fusion platform.
Betfred, whose online operations are run from Gibraltar, announced the deal today, telling affiliates: “Betfred.com, one of the world's largest independent sports betting brands, has acquired the online bingo brand BuckyBingo.co.uk and sister brand BOGOFBingo.co.uk. The acquisition will be highly beneficial to the operation and marketing of the BuckyBingo brand, building on their current experience and strengths.
Betfred's Managing Director John Haddock said, “This is a great acquisition for Betfred.com of a leading brand in the Bingo market. Our intention is to continue with the Bucky brand and it will be business as usual.
“What I can say is that there will be plenty of investment that will give our customers a fantastic experience in the future.”
KPMG Corporate Finance partner Neil Meredith, who helped advise on the sale, said, ‘’BuckyBingo and BOGOFBingo provide an established and highly regarded online bingo offering, that is well positioned to enter its next phase of growth under the new ownership of Betfred.’’
It will be interesting to see how Betfred will use the Bucky Bingo brand, given that it played off and acquired players from the now defunct Buckingham Bingo brand. It is rumoured to have been a successful online bingo brand for a few months after launch but numbers dropped sharply after the initial marketing push.
It is thought Betfred will have paid in the region of £500,000 for the Bucky Bingo brand. Andy Cunningham, chief executive of Buckingham Bingo, is likely to have known the purchasers well because of his close links to the Manchester region, where Betfred founder Fred Done lives.