When the Evolution Gaming Group AB announced 24 June 2020 its intent to purchase all existing shares from shareholders of NetEnt AB, a leading developer of slot games for online casinos, not a few industry experts were left in shock.

Evolution Gaming had always been known as the leading software provider of live dealer games but until that day hadn't made a single move into or showed any intention to enter the online slots market [1]. Such a deal would, to say the least, turn Evolution Gaming into an online gambling powerhouse overnight.

The acquisition offer included both the shares of series A and series B and was worth SEK 19.6bn, approximately 1.5 billion GBP at the time. On 23 November 2020, the offer was declared unconditional after being backed by 97.3% of the total number of votes [2].

Evolution Gaming launched Lightning Roulette in New Jersey [3], extended its US live casino partnership with FanDuel, and showcased 25 brand new casino games, all part of 'THE GREAT 88', an initiative to launch 88 new titles in 2022.

Assuming the Swedish company sticks to its plans, there is little doubt that Evolution Gaming will become the gambling powerhouse it envisions to be this year.