Kindred Leaving North America, Norway

Operator Kindred Group announced today that it plans to leave the North American gaming market by the end of the second quarter of next year, while simultaneously announcing that it is leaving the Norwegian market.

The move comes as the result of a strategic review into the company's operations that began earlier this year. That review is still underway, but one of the first conclusions of the review is that leaving the North American market is necessary for stronger growth of the company in the long run. The move is taking place immediately, but won't be completed for several months, as regulatory processes need to play out.

Kindred is active in multiple states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Arizona, and Washington with its Unibet brands. The company also provides services in the Canadian province of Ontario. As a result, more than 300 people will be laid off.

Kindred will also be leaving Norway, with that process set to complete before the end of December, which ends a lengthy dispute between the company and regulator Lotteritilsynet that involved hefty daily fines that were issued, suspended, reissued, and suspended again.

Regarding the pullout, Kindred Interim CEO Nils Anden said, "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."

Casino Listings News is following the progress of the company and will update readers as appropriate.

Related casinos