Gaming1 Acquires Pac-Man NV: Full Ownership of Belgian Operator Carousel

Gaming1 acquired 100% of Pac-Man NV on 22 September 2026, taking full ownership of the company behind Belgian online casino operator Carousel after a partnership that began in 2012.

On 22 September 2026 in Liège, Gaming1 said it had acquired 100% of the shares in Pac-Man NV. Pac-Man NV is the company behind Carousel Group, the Belgian online casino operator trade press shortens to Carousel. Commercial terms are private, which is typical for privately held gaming-operator M&A. The industrial fact is ownership of the licence-holding vehicle and its digital portfolio.

The relationship is not new. Gaming1 and Carousel have worked together since 2012. What changed on 22 September is the corporate form of that relationship: a long partnership becomes a wholly owned subsidiary path, with Pac-Man NV's activities integrated into Gaming1 with immediate effect.

Integration language is unusually concrete for an operator tuck-in. The release states that no employees transfer with the shares, and that Gaming1 teams are coordinating a smooth handover of activities. That is an asset-and-licence combination more than a people deal. The buyer is buying regulatory and digital operating rights it already knew from the partnership, then running them in-house.

InterGame quotes Gaming1 head of M&A Renaud Thys describing the acquisition as another step in the Interactive Growth strategy and a stronger digital position in Belgium. COO Sylvain Boniver ties the same move to a stronger digital presence and a safe, responsible, distinctive offering in the regulated Belgian market.

Gaming1 is a privately owned Belgian omnichannel gaming group that already runs land-based and online casinos, sports betting and poker; folding a familiar Belgian online casino licence into that stack deepens Interactive Growth where the buyer already competes.

Gaming1 describes itself as belonging to the Ardent Group portfolio and as a leader in the Belgian gaming market across casinos, sports betting and poker, land-based and online, with its own technology and an omnichannel approach. EGR characterises the firm as a privately owned omnichannel group using the Pac-Man NV purchase to ramp up online presence. That is the buyer shape: regulated Belgium first, digital density next.

Carousel sat on the other side of a fourteen-year partnership. The fit case is not a cold entry into a new country. It is the conversion of a known Belgian online casino relationship into owned licence capacity and a digital portfolio Gaming1 can wire into its Belgian operations. Partner knowledge lowers the usual diligence fog around local product, players and compliance posture.

Thys's Interactive Growth framing is the strategy label. Boniver's language is the operating label: strengthen digital presence, keep the entertainment experience engaging, and support a responsible distinctive offering under Belgian regulation. Those are operator motives, not spreadsheet motives. The combination makes sense if Gaming1 wants denser owned digital inventory in a market where it already holds land-based and online franchise strength.

For Pac-Man NV / Carousel, the better home is a larger Belgian omnichannel owner that already understands the brand relationship and can absorb the digital portfolio without a distant foreign holdco. Continuity of the Belgian regulated offering matters more than a disclosed cheque size. Acquiry inference: this is a licence-and-portfolio tuck-in inside a market Gaming1 already treats as home turf.

With 100% ownership already completed, the operating sequence is immediate activity integration, Gaming1 teams running the Pac-Man NV licence and digital portfolio, and Interactive Growth milestones that show denser Belgian digital presence without an employee transfer.

There is no long regulatory close calendar in the public announcement. Gaming1 presents the share purchase as completed on 22 September 2026, with Pac-Man NV activities integrated immediately. Success therefore shows up in operating proofs, not in a future signing photo.

First proof: the Belgian licence and digital portfolio sit cleanly inside Gaming1's Belgian operations, with responsible-gaming and player-experience claims Boniver made still credible after the handoff. Second proof: Interactive Growth language from Thys turns into visible digital presence, not only a deal headline. Third proof: coordination without employee transfer holds, meaning Gaming1's teams can run the absorbed activities without a parallel Carousel workforce migrating across.

Watch items stay positive and concrete. Has Gaming1 published a follow-on product or brand note for Carousel under its ownership? Do trade updates confirm the digital portfolio is live on Gaming1 rails? Does the Interactive Growth narrative name Belgium digital density again with Pac-Man NV as a completed module? Those are the milestones that match the release.

The practical constraint is also industrial. Absorbing a partner's digital estate without transferring people concentrates execution risk on Gaming1's existing organisation. That is manageable when the partnership was long and the market is home turf. It still requires clean licence administration, content continuity and player-protection controls during the immediate integration window.