Well, the big news in Online Casino Land in 2013 is that Gamesys Group (who run the Jackpotkoy bingo site and Caesars Online Casino among others) have agreed to buy the assets of Virgin Games, the online gaming arm of the Virgin Group. The bubbles were just going flat after New Year at Gamesys HQ on Picadilly, and blow me if they haven’t had to wheel in another crate of Bollie).

They aren’t telling anyone how much they paid, but I presume it’s a tidy amount, given that the deal includes Virgin Casino, Virgin Bingo and Virgin Poker.

The buyout would seem to be a smart move. Both companies are on the “softer” side of the gaming market. Gamesys DNA is bingo- it has grown its Jackptjoy site into the real UK bingo winner. And Virgin, with its brand, set themselves up as the friendly face of gaming. In our experience as a player, they succeeed in following through with that philosophy as a player friendly site.

Gamesys will then be relaunching the existing Virgin Games UK site during Q1 of 2013 and also rolling out real-money and social gaming globally under the Virgin brand as part of a long term partnership.

Richard Branson said of the deal: “We are delighted the Gamesys Group has acquired Virgin Games and formed a partnership to build a global games business. Simon Burridge and his team built a strong platform and now with the help of the Gamesys Group we can expand further internationally. We believe the Gamesys Group shares our vision and will be great partners in the sector.” There were no details given on any Christmas jumpers he may or may not have received over the festive season.

Noel Hayden of Gamesys said: “We have been long term admirers of the Virgin brand and all it stands for, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to leverage our unique platform, games and services to power Virgin gaming propositions around the world.” Roughly translated, this means “YES!” accompanied by 10 seconds of fist pumping.

Launched way back in 2004, Virgin Games has online poker, bingo and casino with over 300 games. They are one of the only casinos to offer games from multiple suppliers (Microgaming and IGT). Noel didn’t say whether they would be continuing with that strategy, or whether they’d just be using the Gamesys software.

Here’s some more corporate speak from the press release: “With many new opportunities opening up across the world, it was important to attract a new partner to capitalise the power of the Virgin brand,” said Virgin Games CEO Simon Burridge. “We are delighted Virgin Games is being acquired by the Gamesys Group, whose track record of growth and innovation speaks for itself.”.

So are we going to be talking about Virgin Gamesys Now? Jackpot Virgin Joy Perhaps? Watch this space, I am sure cofounders Andrew Dixon and Noel Hayden will come up with something as their business goes from strength to strength.