Pragmatic Play winds down sports betting and bingo
Pragmatic Play has decided not to spread itself across verticals that never became core to the company. The provider has announced a strategic review and will gradually close its sports betting and bingo verticals. The full retirement of these products is expected to take place over the coming months.
These are verticals the company launched in 2018 and 2022. Pragmatic Play is now effectively acknowledging that the brand's main growth and commercial strength lie elsewhere. The focus is moving back to the products players and operators most often associate with the provider: slots, live casino, crash games and other RNG products.
For the market, this does not look like an unexpected pivot. Pragmatic Play has long been seen primarily as a slot provider with massive distribution and an aggressive release schedule. In that structure, bingo and sports looked more like additional experiments than the verticals around which the company's future would be built.
Pragmatic Play itself explains the move as a matter of concentrating resources. Rather than supporting lower-priority verticals, the company wants to direct more attention and team energy into segments where it already has strong positions and sees further growth.
The provider's numbers are certainly strong. According to the company, in the regulated online slots segment, Pragmatic Play holds the largest market share in South America at 19.3%, in Africa at 19.6%, and in Europe at 15%. These are not just good figures; they are an argument for why slots remain the company's central product.
Pragmatic Play is also near the top of the live casino market. The provider trails only Evolution and remains the second-largest supplier of live content in the world. Given that position, it makes sense that the company does not want to carry verticals that do not bring comparable weight.
Olivia Grant is an iGaming news reporter at CasinosInCanada who covers casino industry updates, regulations, and market developments.
