Inspired Entertainment confirmed this week that it has completed the acquisition of the Gaming Technology Group (NTG) of Novomatic UK, a division of Austrian gaming firm Novomatic Group. Inspired is a supplier of Category B2/B3 gaming terminals, and NTG operates and supplies Category B3, C and D gaming terminals to pubs, arcades, motorway service areas and holiday resorts in the UK.

In a statement, Inspired said that the acquisition combines its “…position and expertise in server based gaming, virtual sports and interactive with NTG’s diversified gaming products and popular content, across a complementary customer base”.  

Inspired will now supply gaming systems with associated terminals and content for more than 58,000 gaming machines located in betting shops, pubs, gaming halls and other route operations, virtual sports products through more than 44,000 retail channels, digital games for 100+ websites and a variety of amusement entertainment solutions with a total installed base of more than 19,000 devices. 

The firm said it plans to draw on each organization’s core strengths to broaden offerings, bring differentiated gaming products to new sectors and geographies, accelerate key growth initiatives and offer enhanced capabilities, systems, field service and content.  

The addition of NTG is expected to help diversify Inspired’s UK business and enable it to expand into contiguous customer segments with very little overlap of existing customers. Furthermore, it aims to use its position and expertise in server based gaming to accelerate NTG’s development initiatives to transition the pub gaming sector from analog to digital gaming machines, systems and content. 

“This acquisition is transformational for Inspired as it unites two highly complementary businesses to create a company that we expect to be a leader in the gaming industry with innovative content, state-of-the-art technology and an expansive footprint,” said Lorne Weil, Executive Chairman of Inspired. “We see significant opportunities across the combined companies to accelerate our growth, expand our reach and set new standards for innovation and service in the industry.”

He added: “The larger scale of the combined organization will offer a one-stop service for gaming, virtual sports, interactive and leisure products – and a complete gaming solution that operators can use to reach players wherever they are, whenever they want to play and in any channel they choose. We expect to be able to deliver meaningful value to our shareholders as the acquisition is integrated.”

Inspired expects to achieve $12.3m to $13.3m of annual cost synergies (across cost of sales and selling, general and administrative costs and excluding one off implementation costs), within six months of the closing date through shared costs and increased scale. It will also look to make efficient use of shared manufacturing, engineering, software development, field maintenance and customer service to drive growth and cost savings. Inspired further expects to reduce capital deployed in the pub gaming sector.