Brothers sell software firm to Playtech in £15m deal

A designer of gambling software was feeling lucky yesterday after selling his business £11m.

Geneity's managing director Will Slater has taken an offer from Playtech for the firm, which has 20 staff. He is the main beneficiary of the deal, along with several other unnamed investors.

Mr Slater's brother, Philip, is commercial director and another beneficiary. He founded the company alongside Will in 2006.

Under the terms of the deal, another £4m will be paid out later if Geneity hits certain targets. The business has revenues of around £2.3m a year.

The move was unveiled on a busy day for Playtech. The AIM-listed outfit – it intends to move to the main market shortly – announced strong, fourth-quarter earnings and two joint ventures, alongside the Geneity deal.

In the three months to 31 December, revenues were up 79 per cent to €78.4m (£65.5m).

Revenues from casino and bingo rose, while poker sales fell a little.

The Geneity takeover will help Playtech to expand in the highly competitive sports-betting market.