Bingo.com Sells URL and Online Gambling Business to Unibet Group plc
ANGUILLA, B.W.I., December 31, 2014 / Bingo.com, Ltd. (OTCQB: BNGOF) (“the Company”), owner of Trophy Bingo, an innovative, non-gambling, social bingo product, and the online gambling community http://www.bingo.com, today announced it has sold its URL www.bingo.com and its online gambling community to Unibet Group plc (“Unibet”) for total consideration of $8,000,000 effective December 31, 2014. The Company will now be able to focus solely on its social bingo game, Trophy Bingo.
The Company is receiving cash consideration of $2,000,000 and redemption of the 15,000,000 common shares of the Company, which are held by Unibet, at a price of $0.40 per share. The 15,000,000 common shares held by Unibet have been returned to the Company’s treasury for cancellation. Accordingly, the Company’s issued common share capital has decreased by 21.22%, from 70,682,703 to 55,682,703 common shares.
The Company’s sale of its URL www.bingo.com and its online gambling community and the Company’s proposed name change to “Shoal Games Ltd.” were approved unanimously by the Company’s board of directors and by shareholders representing 60,271,734 common shares or 85.27% of the Company’s issued voting common shares.
“The online gambling industry as a whole is experiencing conditions of maturity where smaller firms are finding it increasingly difficult to compete,” said Jason Williams, Bingo.com’s CEO. “Bingo.com’s European gambling business, built with the www.bingo.com brand and URL, has therefore found it difficult to compete effectively with larger operators.”
“In response to these facts, the Bingo.com management team decided it was in the best interests of the Company to sell the online gambling business; the associated brand and URL and determined the offer negotiated with Unibet, the Company’s own online gambling partner and technology provider, was fair and the best offer available to the Company for those assets.
Mr. Williams continued, “in June of 2012, the Company determined that a significant opportunity was developing for non-gambling bingo games and embarked on the development of a unique free social bingo game, that could be played world wide, without the regulatory constraints present in the online gambling industry. Accordingly, the Company has spent several million dollars over the past thirty months developing and soft launching Trophy Bingo, a social casino game that is now live worldwide in the Apple App Store and Google Play store.”
“The game is a puppy themed social bingo adventure where players must win their way through 120 levels of bingo challenges. The game includes many innovations for social bingo including new power plays, a map progression system, unique game types, card blockers, bonus bingo rounds, and a bingo combo system. Trophy Bingo is free to download and supports in-app purchases for players who find themselves in need of extra bingos or want to engage with the premium power plays contained in the game.”
“The $2,000,000 cash obtained from the sale of its online gambling business, in addition to the current cash on hand will enable the Company to continue to finance the development and marketing of Trophy Bingo. The return to treasury of 15,000,000 shares will be anti-dilutive to the Company by 21.22%, which is a great benefit to our shareholders,” stated Mr. Williams. “The sale to Unibet Group plc includes the Bingo.com brand, which is needed for the cash gambling business, however the Company has built the Trophy Bingo game completely independent of the Bingo.com brand in its wholly owned subsidiary Shoal Media, Inc. Accordingly, the Company has chosen to rename itself Shoal Games Ltd. to reflect the Company’s primary focus on social game development and publishing. Shoal Games Ltd. will remain an Anguillan public corporation, and continue to be listed on the OTCQB exchange.
“Whilst we will no longer trade under the name ‘Bingo.com, Ltd.’ or the symbol BNGOF”, said Mr. Williams, “we believe that we will develop an even stronger company trading with the name Shoal Games Ltd. The Company will effect its name change to Shoal Games Ltd before January 31, 2015 and will announce both the date of the name change and the Company’s new trading symbol on the OTCQB. It is the Company’s intention to make Trophy Bingo one of the most popular and highest grossing social bingo games in the world. The ongoing live tuning and development efforts with Trophy Bingo have provided extremely satisfying results for the game’s retention and monetization metrics. Trophy Bingo is a product that’s rich in game play and offers players hours of entertainment in a completely new format for social bingo. The Trophy Bingo team is focused on releasing product updates and new features that will enhance the game’s performance to the point where a significant marketing budget will be spent with the objective of moving Trophy Bingo into the upper ranks of the monetization charts for both Apple and Google smartphones and tablets.”
About Bingo.com, pending name change to Shoal Games Ltd
Bingo.com, Ltd. (OTCQB: BNGOF) is the parent company of the group of companies, which owns Trophy Bingo, an innovative, non-gambling social bingo game, live in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Trophy Bingo is a puppy themed bingo adventure where players must win their way through 120 levels of bingo challenges. The game is free to download and supports in-app purchases for players who find themselves in need of extra bingos or want to engage with the premium power plays contained in the game. Bingo.com, Ltd. (OTCQB: BNGOF) trades on the OTCQB, the venture marketplace for companies that are current in their reporting with the U.S. regulator. Investors can find real time quotes and market information for the Company at http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/BNGOF/quote.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this press release (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by the company) contains statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to anticipated future success of the company. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future and, accordingly, such results may differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the company. For a description of additional risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, readers should read the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on March 25, 2014, and the prospectus filed under Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act on March 9, 2005 and the SB2 filed July 17, 2007, for a more thorough discussion of the Company’s financial position and results of operations, together with a detailed discussion of the risk factors involved in an investment in Bingo.com, Ltd.
About Unibet Group plc
Unibet Group plc (“Unibet”) was founded in 1997 and is an online gambling company listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. Unibet is one of the largest privately-owned gambling operators in the European market and provides services in 22 languages through www.unibet.com, www.unibet.dk, www.unibet.fr, www.unibet.it, www.unibet.be, www.unibet.ee, www.unibet.com.au, www.maria.com, www.mariacasino.ee and www.mariacasino.dk. Today, Unibet has 9.5 million customers in over 100 countries. Unibet is a member of the EGBA, European Gaming and Betting Association, RGA, Remote Gambling Association in the UK and is audited and certified by eCOGRA in relation to responsible and fair gaming.
More information about Unibet Group plc can be found on www.unibetgroupplc.com and twitter.com/UnibetGroup
For more information contact:
- Henry Bromley
- CFO
- ir@bingo.com
- (264) 461-2646