GAMING1

Overview

GAMING1 traces its origins to 1992, when Emmanuel Mewissen and Jean-Marie Léonard, in partnership with the Bosquin family, opened the first Circus gaming room in Liege. The technology arm grew from ProduWeb, a web agency co-founded by Sylvain Boniver, Christophe Boniver and Gérard El Allaf in 2002. In 2011 Circus and ProduWeb merged their expertise to form GAMING1, combining a casino operator with an in-house software studio, and Circus.be became the leading online gaming website in Belgium. In October 2018 the gaming activities of the Ardent Group were consolidated under the GAMING1 Group brand, with the Liège-based platform business as its technology core.

The company employs more than 1,600 people across three business hubs in Belgium, France and Malta, with around 1,000 staff in Belgium and more than 500 at the Liège headquarters on Rue des Guillemins. GAMING1 reports more than 50 distinct IT job families and positions itself as one of the largest technology employers in Wallonia. Its proprietary platform underpins casino, sports-betting and poker products, integrates in-house game studios and aggregates third-party casino content, and is licensed by partners across Europe.

GAMING1 operates in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Romania, Portugal and Spain, both directly and through licensing partnerships. In 2021 the group entered the United States through Gamewise, a joint venture with Delaware North. In December 2021 CVC Capital Partners, through its Fund VIII, took a stake in GAMING1 alongside founding shareholders Emmanuel Mewissen, Sylvain Boniver and Nicolas Léonard, who remain reference shareholders. Belgian operations include the casinos of Namur and Spa, more than 30 Circus gaming rooms, and online brands including Circus.be, 777.be and pokerstars.be.

Funding history

• December 2021: Strategic partnership with CVC Capital Partners (Fund VIII), founders retained as reference shareholders