GiG Completes Over €16M Deal for 888AFRICA

Key Points

• GiG paid the full €6.1m when they completed the deal for 80% of 888AFRICA back in October, leaving €10.3m still due to be paid in 10 months’ time.
• The African operator is raking in about $50m in annualised net gaming revenue and grew 30% year on year in Q2.
• As of the end of June, GiG were getting by on a mere €3.5m in cash, and it looks like these deferred payments are going to put their balance sheet to the test.

The €16.4m Deal Closes, And Only €6.1m Gets Spent Right Now

Gaming Innovation Group paid out just €6.1m on 1 October and walked away with an 80% stake in a profitable African betting company. GiG Software Plc confirmed the deal was done in a completion notice, after all the share purchase conditions had been met. And the rest? Well, that’s a €10.3m bill due to be paid in instalments over the next 10 months.

Only a third of the €16.4m price tag was paid at completion, and this is a deal that’s been talked about for a while now. If we do some rough maths, paying €16.4m for 80% of 888AFRICA values the whole business at about €20.5m. But, of course, we don’t really know what kind of debt and cash GiG has lying around to make that a viable enterprise value.

Things moved pretty quickly towards the end of last month. GiG agreed on the principal terms on 26 August, signed the deal on the 28th and then closed the deal three days later on the 1st.

What GiG Just Bought In Mozambique, Angola And Tanzania?

888AFRICA’s got a pretty comfortable spot in the market in Mozambique, and they’re also licensed to operate in Angola and Tanzania. This was a start-up operation back in late 2022, but now they’re bringing in around $50m in annual net gaming revenue.

Second quarter trading was where we saw the momentum swing in GiG’s favour; the binding share purchase agreement was announced, and it showed a 17% increase on the previous quarter, and a whopping 30% increase on the year. Adjusted EBITDA margin had also widened to 13%, and the business had managed to throw off over $1m in net cash.

Some folk reckon the quarterly growth was even higher, at 19%, but the deal’s binding announcement puts it at 17%, and we’ll go with that.

“We’re taking a step up, rather than a step out,” Christopher Coyne, 888AFRICA’s chief executive and co-founder, said of the deal. “GiG has the products that will help us get to the next level, and their track record in the B2B space is second to none.”

And just to give you a sense of where they’re aiming to be, 888AFRICA’s just set a goal for themselves to become one of the top three iGaming operators in Africa within the next five years, and they’ve put a number on that; on LinkedIn, they posted that this is what they’re aiming for.

Contrasting Two Highly Disparate Revenue Streams

The size factor makes this deal intriguing, although there are complexities in terms of numbers. GiG’s Q2 2026 revenue statement reported a quarterly revenue of €8.8m, representing a 5% decrease from the year prior. This decline was primarily attributed to the insolvency of client Richmond Atlantic and reduced one-time revenue.

With Q1 and Q2 revenues totalling €17.8m, GiG currently appears to generate some €35m per year. 888AFRICA’s $50m is an estimate of net gaming revenue run rate based on the current trading level. The two revenue measures are incomparable, yet point to the possibility of the acquired business generating revenue similar to GiG’s software revenues.

The same results reported an adjusted EBITDA of €0.8m and an operating loss of €6.9m, including €3m of one-off bad debt provisions. GiG held €3.5m in cash as of 30 June, compared to €4.3m in the corresponding period of 2025.

This press release provided an outlook for combined 2026 revenues between €44m and €48m and adjusted EBITDA between €5m and €7m. The document was released on 26 August and made assumptions of 888AFRICA contributing for the whole of the fourth quarter. GiG has not publicly revised the outlook since completion of the deal; therefore, the year-end numbers will prove to be an interesting test.

Richard Carter, GiG’s chief executive officer, commented on the acquisition as being “a major step forward in GiG’s growth journey.” He added that the online gambling market in Africa is “powered by demographic, mobile and regulatory tailwinds that few others can match.”

Funding For The Upfront Payment

Underneath the completion statement lies a complex financing arrangement that warrants a more detailed review. GiG raised an €8.5m equity fundraising package, comprising €2.5m in new shares and €6m in two-year convertible loans. The latter have a 15% annual interest rate. GiG stated that the proceeds would be used to make the upfront payment and for general corporate purposes, not for the entire deal cost.

Financing breakdown of Gaming.net indicates that the newly issued depository receipts were priced at SEK 1.725, diluting the existing shareholders by approximately 9%. Every six months, a quarter of the loan principal may convert to the shares at a 10% discount to the recent trading levels. Richard Carter is reported to be among the share subscribers and the lenders.

Evoke Exits While The Founders Choose To Stick Around

Around 80% of the stake came from Virtual Emerging Entertainment Limited, a subsidiary of Evoke. Some early whispers said Evoke would hang on to the remaining 20%, but the numbers don’t lie; GiG’s filings confirm the founders are still in charge. With Coyne and the rest of the founding team still at the helm, all that’s needed is for business results to keep rolling in.

The reason for Evoke’s pullback from Africa is a good place to start, though. The 888 brand made its debut on the continent back in 2022 through a joint venture; they then bought BetLion in 2023 to practically get a foot in the door in Kenya and Zambia. By 2025, 888AFRICA had given up on 10 markets after Evoke did a bit of restructuring in preparation for getting bought out by Bally’s Intralot; that’s when things got interesting.

So Says GiG, This Is Definitely Not A Return To B2C

Consumer brands are old news for GiG; they used to have their hands in the pot with Rizk, Guts, Kaboo and Thrills before selling them off to Betsson back in 2020. GiG’s Chief Financial Officer Phil Richards seems pretty clear about one thing; in conversation with Zona de Azar, he shot down the idea that this deal is the full return to B2C many people were talking about. Instead, though, he describes 888AFRICA as a one-off case, a local base which GiG can use to learn the ropes in terms of how regulators, payments and customers all interact.

As for integration, GiG is going to start with basics like financial reporting, compliance and just getting everything under one roof. While switching 888AFRICA over to GiG’s own platform is still on the table, there’s been no commitment on that one way or the other.

Expert Analysis: A High Value Asset, On A Chalkboard Of Debt

We genuinely believe GiG has picked up an operator that’s in genuinely good shape, and they’re paying a pretty penny for it; about €20.5m for the whole shebang of a profitable operator that’s growing at 30% a year doesn’t sound too bad if you look at it from the buyer’s side. On top of that, GiG got a bit of a lucky break on timing; this just so happened to be while Evoke was busy offloading assets in anticipation of their own change of ownership. We can’t for certain say that Evoke took a discount, but it’s fair to wonder.

Things look a bit more ominous for GiG, though. On 30 June, the company was sitting on a paltry €3.5m in the bank, then found out it had €10.3m coming due in ten months. Some of that’s coming from loans at a whacking 15% interest, and we can add to that the fact that some of that lending is coming directly from its Chief Exec, with an option to convert to equity at a discount. It’s not too hard to wonder if cheaper capital was actually ever thrown in the mix.

We also take issue with GiG’s line about this being no B2C return. When you land an operator that’s as profitable as 888AFRICA, and that could almost match up with your own software revenue, the group’s identity kind of changes, no matter what management is calling it. GiG should see fit to report these two businesses separately; investors need a clear picture of the software side to make informed decisions.

If 888AFRICA keeps on growing while the instalments are being paid off, this deal might just steady GiG’s finances for years on end. If growth starts to slow, however, before the final payment, GiG’s going to find out just how deep in the red they really are.