Evolution has moved to reassure investors after its proposed acquisition of Galaxy Gaming reached its contractual outside date, triggering termination rights for either party.
The merger agreement’s agreed closing period expired on 17 July 2026, meaning both Evolution and Galaxy Gaming are now entitled to walk away from the deal.
The transaction was first announced in July 2024 but has been held up by a prolonged and unresolved regulatory review process spanning multiple jurisdictions.
The deal had originally been expected to close in 2025 before being extended in November of that year to give regulators additional time to analyse the proposed merger.
Despite the limbo the deal now finds itself in, Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund sought to minimise concerns about the acquisition’s significance to the wider business.
Speaking alongside the company’s Q2 results, Carlesund acknowledged Galaxy Gaming’s qualities while stressing that the outcome would not alter Evolution’s strategic direction in any meaningful way.
“Due to Galaxy’s size, the transaction is not significant for Evolution,” Carlesund said. “The outcome has no material impact on our existing business, our US operations or our long-term ambitions.”
During the earnings call, Carlesund acknowledged that Evolution had invested “significant time, effort and resources” into progressing the deal across the past two years.
He declined to elaborate on the current state of the regulatory process, saying only that the company would evaluate its position “very soon” and update the market accordingly.
“We will come to the decision and make an evaluation very soon,” he said. “Unfortunately, I can’t give you more information on that right now.”
Some regulators had already approved the transaction, including the Mississippi Gaming Commission, but Nevada remains among those yet to grant the green light.
This week, Evolution separately confirmed that its UK licence review will conclude with a £4.75m settlement paid to the Gambling Commission for supplying unlicensed UK-facing operators.
Analysts at Rothschild and Co Redburn suggested Nevada regulators may have been waiting for the outcome of the UK investigation before granting the final approval needed for the Galaxy transaction.
Neither Evolution nor any regulator has publicly confirmed such a link between the UK licence review and the delayed acquisition approval process.
The same analysts noted that Galaxy Gaming’s share price had continued to trade below the agreed acquisition value, reflecting persistent investor uncertainty over whether the deal would ultimately complete.
Rothschild and Co Redburn analysts also noted that the conclusion of the UK review could strengthen Evolution’s position in its long-running defamation lawsuit in New Jersey against Playtech and private intelligence firm Black Cube.
That lawsuit centres on allegations contained in a 2021 report regarding Evolution’s activities in unregulated markets, a case that has run alongside the company’s broader regulatory challenges.
