NetEnt Shuts Down Live Casino and Begins Lay-Offs

NetEnt, one of the leading live casino content providers, has begun cutting jobs and has even closed its live casino studio in Qormi, after being acquired by an industry giant, Evolution.

Employees at NetEnt were sent home and told to expect an email regarding their further instructions after the company was acquired by Evolution. It is not known how many people have been fired but it is estimated that a few hundred of the Sweden-based developer’s employees have lost their jobs. The government has set up a special helpline to help the staff that has lost their jobs, just weeks before Christmas.

Risk of Redundancy

Representatives from Evolution said that NetEnt’s Qormi studio would be shut down and that the people working directly with the studio would be at risk of redundancy and that the formal redundancy processes have been initiated. However, the Swedish studio announced that the Qormi studio would be expanding, just three months ago, due to increased demand.

Back in June, Evolution proposed an offer to acquire NetEnt and the deal went on to amount to $2.11 billion, with the former acquiring the majority of shares. Evolution has received an approval from the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority in September to acquire the brand.

More About the Brands

NetEnt is a leading provider of top-notch gaming solutions. The company provides their services to some of the world’s most successful online casino operators. The company is regulated and licensed by the United Kingdom Gaming Commission. It holds licenses in Alderney, Belgium, Gibraltar, Malta, New Jersey, Romania and Spain.

Its cutting-edge platform and their team of over 1000 professionals are responsible for creating thrilling games. The company handled 44.7 billion gaming transactions in 2018. NetEnt has a strong presence in Sweden, Malta, Ukraine, Gibraltar, USA and Poland.

Evolution, on the other hand, was founded in 2006 and it immediately had an impact on the European live dealer platforms. Evolution Gaming has been growing ever since and has signed deals with a lot of companies and made new partners including 888 Casino, Betclic, Betsson and a lot more prominent companies.

As far as games go, the supplier has to offer Live Roulette, Lightning Roulette, Live Blackjack, Infinite Blackjack, Live Casino Hold’em and a lot more games.

Its offering includes live casino games with real, professional dealers, made in the state-of-the-art studios in Latvia and Malta. All of its releases are available on desktops, tablets and smartphones.

Source: Martin, Ivan. “’Hundreds’ of job cuts at gaming company NetEnt”. Times of Malta. December 1, 2020.