Gaming1 has acquired 100% of the shares in Pac-Man NV, the Belgian company behind online casino Carousel, turning a 14-year commercial partnership into full ownership.
Renaud Thys, head of M&A at Gaming1, confirmed the transaction on LinkedIn. The companies did not disclose a price.
Gaming1 and Carousel have worked together since 2012, with the Liège-based group supplying technology and content to the brand. The purchase gives Gaming1 direct control of the operator, its player base and its Belgian permit.
The value of a B+ licence
Carousel operates under a B+ licence issued by the Belgian Gaming Commission (GC), the class that covers online gaming arcade products. Belgian law does not allow that licence to stand alone. Only holders of a land-based class B licence may apply for a B+, and the online permit runs and renews in step with the land-based one it is attached to. Pac-Man NV holds the underlying B licence through the Carousel arcade in Hulste, West Flanders.
Supply is capped. The GC can grant a maximum of 180 B licences across Belgian territory, and every one of them is spoken for in a market where operators have held them for years. An operator that wants a new online arcade licence in Belgium cannot apply for one. It has to buy a company that already holds a land-based venue and the permit attached to it.
Gaming1 said the deal will allow it to “benefit from Pac-Man NV’s licence and digital portfolio, adding new capabilities to our Belgian operations.”
That coupling rule is the mechanism behind most Belgian igaming M&A. The same logic applies across the licence classes: A+ online casino permits attach to the country’s nine land-based casinos, and F1+ online betting licences attach to land-based betting operators. Belgium is not alone in running a closed licence pool. Italy is weighing an extension of its retail gambling concessions to 2029 rather than opening a new tender, a decision that similarly fixes who can trade and for how long.
What Carousel runs
Carousel is built around the dice formats that define Belgian online arcade play, where slot-style games are structured as dice games to fit the class B product rules. The site offers dice slots, blackjack, video poker, roulette, virtual races, jackpot titles and live roulette, with content from 18 suppliers including Gaming1, Pragmatic Play and Betsoft. It also carries Gaming1-developed exclusives such as Carousel Mystery Box and Carousel Dice, products that already tie the two businesses together commercially.
The site does not offer sports betting. That sits outside a B+ permit in Belgium and requires a separate F1+ licence.
Gaming1 frames it as interactive growth
Thys presented the acquisition as part of a wider digital push at the group.
“The acquisition represents another important step in our Interactive Growth strategy and further strengthens our digital position in Belgium. I would like to thank everyone involved in making this transaction happen, on both sides of the table, for the constructive collaboration throughout the process. Looking forward to this new chapter and to continuing to build a strong, responsible and distinctive digital entertainment offering in Belgium.”
Sylvain Boniver, chief operating officer at Gaming1, pointed to the player-facing side of the deal.
“We believe this acquisition will further strengthen our digital presence in Belgium and enhance the fun and engaging entertainment experience we offer our players. It will also support our ambition to provide a safe, responsible and distinctive offering in the regulated Belgian market.”
Neither executive set out what changes for Carousel players or staff, and Gaming1 has not said whether the brand will continue to trade under its own name or be folded into the group’s existing consumer portfolio. Brand retention is the usual outcome in these deals, because the licence and the customer database are attached to a name Belgian players already recognise.
What happens next
The immediate questions are operational. Gaming1 now owns both the platform and the operator, which removes the supplier margin between them and gives the group full control of the Carousel roadmap. It also takes on the land-based obligations that keep the B+ licence alive, including the Hulste arcade, which has to remain compliant for the online permit to survive its next renewal.
The wider read is on consolidation. Belgium’s fixed licence count means growth for a domestic operator is close to zero-sum, and every acquisition removes one more independent holder from a pool of 180. Thys called the deal “another important step” in the group’s Interactive Growth strategy, which points to further transactions rather than a one-off. The open question for the rest of the market is how many of those 180 permits the GC and Belgian legislators are willing to see concentrated in a single group.
Source: Gaming1
