Pennsylvania’s betting market is one of only six that offers online casino gambling, and Mohegan Pennsylvania, through its platform provider, Unibet, is a player in the industry. However, Unibet has announced plans to pull out of the U.S. market and Mohegan intends to develop its own iGaming platform.
Going In-House
Unibet has been behind Mohegan Pennsylvania’s online casino gaming platform, but the results have been less than stellar. Mohegan Pennsylvania’s iGaming app generated just $1.68 million in December’s online casino gaming revenue, which pales in comparison to the most popular Pennsylvania iGaming app, Penn National, which produced a whopping $60.6 million in revenue, not including the $334,265 it raked in online poker profits, during the same month.
The Unibet platform does not operate an online poker platform for Mohegan Pennsylvania but its performance in the iGaming market has Mohegan Pennsylvania Casino Resort pivoting to its own platform upon learning of Unibet’s market exit. Mohegan Digital Services will be tasked with developing the new app, which would eliminate the need for an outside provider.
March 18th is anticipated to be the beginning of the soft launch while a month later, on April 18th, the new Mohegan app will be open to all Pennsylvanians. The company’s loyalty incentive program, Momentum Rewards, will now be incorporated into the platform.
Mohegan has also stated it will absorb as many Unibet employees as possible wherever possible in its new launch.
Unibet Pulling Out
Swedish operator, the Kindred Group, owners of the Unibet and Casino brand, has announced its departure from the North American market and will be withdrawing over the next several months. The company has set the end of Q2 2024 as the deadline for its complete exit from the market which includes Arizona, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ontario.
Interim CEO Nils Andén said the move was “necessary and decisive:”
“The cost reduction actions announced today are both necessary and decisive. While it is never a desire to inform valued colleagues of redundancies, this puts us in a stronger position to secure long-term growth for Kindred across our locally regulated core markets. We can now focus our resources and tech capacity towards strategic initiatives and selected markets where we see clear potential to grow our market share.”
What’s Next?
The move is expected to result in 300 job losses, a savings of roughly $50 million for the company. But that may be just the beginning of a new direction for the Kindred Group as highlighted in a company press release last April that stated the company was seeking to maximize stockholder value by exploring strategic alternatives, one of which is selling the company.
The press release announced in part that the, “Board of Directors is focused on maximizing the value of these assets for the Company’s shareholders. Kindred hereby announces that its Board of Directors has unanimously decided to initiate a process to explore strategic alternatives for the Company.
“As part of this strategic process, the Board of Directors will consider all potential alternatives that can deliver value for the Company’s shareholders. Such alternatives could include a merger or sale of the Company (in whole or in part) or other possible strategic transactions.”
