Mr Green goes public

There is a lot of slot news out today so we will update you with all the latest happenings.  First up, is Scandinavian company Mr Green & Co AB begins publicly trading on the Swedish Exchange AktieTorget.  Mr Green has got a lot right with their selection of amazing slots from the likes of Net Entertainment, Microgaming, BetSoft, and IGT, not to mention a recently signed Evolution Gaming deal for a Live Casino.  Their amazing casino product suite has resulted in a massive 70% profit rise year on year since their inception in 2008 by three friends.  The Group CEO, Mikael Pawlo told EGR Magazine,

“When we started out we had a firm belief that there was a market for a niche online casino that went for a unique look and feel and focused on user experience,” he added. “The response from our customers has been overwhelming and even better than we expected.”

Their impressive earnings of SEK 47.0 million (EBITDA) in 2012 along with their continued year on year growth makes going public seem sensible, however, Free Slot Money has mixed reactions to this news.  On the one hand, with such continued growth going public makes sense, but on the other hand we are just hopeful that decisions will continue to be made based on user experience and fantastic quality games rather than being guided by shareholder expectations and bottom lines.  Having worked in both private and publicly traded online gaming companies, there is a big difference in how the two operate internally from day to day.  Once publicly traded, it’s difficult not to get wrapped up in the daily share price rather than focusing on the quality of the product offering and the customer experience.  Nine months after Betfair’s float, for example, the share price had fallen by 50pc.  They have also just released their results of a 27% fall in underlying pre-tax profits for the year to the end of April.  It’s no secret that Betfair have been in discussions to take the company private again.  It’s difficult to make comparisons of online gaming companies when they go public, but we just hope that Mr Green sees continued success and growth and concentrate on what they do best which is providing great games and a great user experience.

In other related news from Mr Green, they have just announced that they will be releasing three new slot games this week including Monopoly Dream Life, Dr Watts Up, and  Net Entertainment’s newly released slot, and Fisticuffs which Free Slot Money has just reviewed.