Swedish poker site that would eventually be acquired by Cryptologic. At the time that Parbet was established, Betfair was making massive gains in the Nordics, gaining critical liquidity and creating a major obstacle for both Parbet and Betsson, whose plan to pool liquidity between them to compete with Betfair didn’t materialise.
After two years with Parbet, Edward left to oversee iGaming for Nordic media company, Kinnevik, part of the Swedish digital entertainment company, Modern Times Group (MTG). It was now 2003, and MTG through Kinnevik held a 30 per cent stake in Cherryföretagen AB. Another Swedish gaming
giant, Net Entertainment, was created as a joint venture between Modern Times Group MTG AB, Cherryföretagen AB and Pontus Lindwall in 1996. Net Entertainment was still a fully owned subsidiary of Cherryföretagen AB when Edward joined Kinnevik, but was spun off from Cherry and listed on NGM Equity in 2007. Kinnevik also sold the majority of its shares in Cherryföretagen in 2005.
Appointed to oversee iGaming at this crux point for the online gaming industry in Sweden, Edward’s role brought him into contact with affiliates looking to increase their own stakes in the iGaming sector. However, as Edward describes: “iGaming was an extremely
politically sensitive topic at that time. News of Modern Times Group’s involvement in iGaming was viewed as a scandal by the Swedish business press. Te issue quickly escalated as the biggest advertiser for the Modern Times Group back then was Svenska Spel and the whole thing became politically toxic. It all happened so fast. I joined Modern Times Group on the Monday and by Tursday I was let go.”
OnGame Poker Room, another Swedish online start-up (originally
PokerRoom.com), had watched the rise of Party Poker through affiliate programmes and wanted a slice of Party’s 50 per cent marketshare. “Te remit wasn’t to copycat Party Gaming,” said Edward, who was
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