Rank Group buys Spanish digital bingo business YoBingo.es

Rank Group has bought QSB, the owner of Spanish digital bingo business YoBingo.es, for up to €52m in cash.

The company said Spain is an attractive multi-channel market and that there is significant upside potential in combining Spanish retail and digital bingo and slot operations.

Rank said the deal secures a "strong" digital bingo and casino presence in Spain, a high growth regulated digital gaming market and provides the group with a proprietary platform including online bingo, roulette and video bingo content for the Spanish market with strong potential to support other regulated markets.

In addition, it provides a brand with strong national recognition in Spain and accelerates the multi-channel strategy of Rank's established Spanish brand, Enracha.

Established in 2012 shortly after Spain regulated online gambling, the YoBingo Group is currently one of the leading online bingo operators there. For the year ended 31 December 2017, QSB and its subsidiaries generated revenue and earnings before interest and taxes of €10.4m and €2.5m, respectively.

Headquartered in Malta and licensed in Spain, the group’s principal operating company, Bingosoft, operates the website YoBingo.es through which it offers a broad portfolio of games including bingo, slots, video bingo and roulette.

Bingosoft operates on its own gaming platform, which was purpose built for the Spanish online gaming environment and has developed and operates a suite of proprietary games.

Chief executive John O’Reilly said: "The YoBingo Group is a well-established operation that we intend to further develop and to cross-sell into our established Spanish retail operations."