LeoVegas casinos

LeoVegas Gaming PLC Information

Who Are LeoVegas?

LeoVegas is a big name on the UK iGaming scene – not least because the name of the casino network company is the same as the name of the most popular online casino it operates. Aside from being a big name in the UK, LeoVegas is increasingly a big name in the United States of America and a huge deal elsewhere in Europe. Where, then, is the company’s base? London? Somewhere glamorous in the USA? Malta or Gibraltar, like the majority of iGaming companies that serve the UK market? Actually, the answer is none of the above. You’ll find the head office of LeoVegas in Stockholm, Sweden. There’s a good reason for that – the full name of the company is “LeoVegas AB,” and this is a Swedish company. According to the latest figures available, LeoVegas AB employs close to one thousand people and brings in approximately £325m per year in revenue. That revenue comes from multiple iGaming sites, of which five remain active in the UK market. There used to be far more, but LeoVegas has backed away from the bingo business in recent years to focus more tightly on casino games and sports betting, which has resulted in the closure of the company’s former bingo websites. All of this is in the here and now, though; let’s take a trip back in time and look at the company’s history.

The history of LeoVegas

Such is the degree of fame that LeoVegas has achieved, people tend to think that the company has been around forever. That isn’t actually the case. LeoVegas formed in 2011, making it a relative latecomer to the world of online casinos and iGaming, which had already begun to blossom by then. During its early years, LeoVegas saw itself as a mobile gaming specialist. There was still a distinction between mobile casinos and regular online casinos during the second decade of the 21st century, as it was often necessary to build alternative versions of casinos or games to make them compatible with smaller devices. That, as we all know, is no longer the case today. The founders of LeoVegas were Gustaf Hagman and Robin Ramm-Ericson, both of whom had extensive prior experience within the industry and both of whom remain involved in the running of the company today. In Hagman’s own words, LeoVegas was “born from a smartphone.” He and Ramm-Ericson were quick to realise that the mobile format was the future of the whole iGaming industry, which gave their fledgling company both a niche and an advantage in the marketplace.

Growing and Expanding

After five years of steady growth, LeoVegas made its first stock marketing offering in March 2016. The decision – and opportunity – came off the back of the company experiencing a 124% increase in revenue during the past twelve months. LeoVegas AB made £37m in 2014, but in 2015 it brought in more than £80m. The company’s growth in paying customers was even more impressive. From just over 54,000 in 2013, the company grew to serve over 100,000 by the end of 2014 and over 200,000 by the end of 2015. The company wasn’t just growing; it was exploding in popularity. With more people coming to LeoVegas for their iGaming needs, the company decided to add another string to its bow; sports betting. While it’s taken for granted that you can bet on sports with the flagship LeoVegas site these days, that hasn’t always been the case. It wasn’t until 2016 that the casino spawned a sportsbook – just in time for that year’s UEFA Euro 2016 tournament, in fact. That same year, LeoVegas AB received a licence to operate in Denmark for the first time. Adding more services and reaching new territories was just part of the expansion plan, though – by this point in its existence, LeoVegas has begun to buy its competitors.

Acquisitions and Being Acquired

LeoVegas AB made its first major acquisition in March 2017 when it bought an Italian iGaming company called Winga for £6m, thus entering the Italian market for the first time. Buying Royal Panda for £60m was next on the company’s to-do list, although LeoVegas surprised many by closing the brand down shortly after it was acquired. In February 2018, the company applied for and received a licence to operate in Germany. One month later, it spotted the potential of a fast-growing UK operator called Rocket X and bought that, too. Wanting to dip its toes into the waters of e-sports betting, LeoVegas bought 51% of pixlel.bet in September 2018 and then rounded out the year by being the first company to receive one of the newly-formatted iGaming licence issues in its native land of Sweden.When an iGaming company starts buying other iGaming companies, there’s always a risk that another, larger iGaming company will eventually come along and buy it. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. That proved to be the case in May 2022, when the American giant MGM Resorts International made an offer of over £600m to purchase LeoVegas in its entirety. The offer was accepted, and the deal was completed in September 2022. That means LeoVegas has lost its independence – but at least it means the brand has finally reached Las Vegas!

LeoVegas and the UKGC

While the correct name for LeoVegas is LeoVegas AB, and its head office is in Sweden, that’s not the information you’ll find on the company’s UK Gambling Commission licence. The UKGC recognises the company as being called LeoVegas Gaming PLC and lists its head office as being in Sliema, Malta. There are sixteen domain names listed on the company’s licence, but only five of them are still active. You’ll find further information about them in the section below. Regrettably, LeoVegas’ record with the regulator isn’t as clean as it could and should be. The operator has had a formal warning and further conditions attached to its licence since July 2022, which is the same month it was handed a financial penalty of £1.32m. This decision came after a review of the company’s operating licence, during which the UKGC determined that breaches of licence conditions regarding the prevention of money laundering, the social responsibility code of practice, and customer identification had taken place. The UKGC noted that LeoVegas had co-operated with the investigation and that remedial action to address the failings had already been taken.