A brand that was sold, renamed its buyer, then bought its creator
The most-searched question about this brand after "how do I log in" is some version of "who is actually behind it", usually asked because somebody has noticed that several sites look and behave alike and wants to know whether they are the same business. They frequently are, and the reason is that online gambling brands are assembled on shared platforms inside listed groups, so a "sister site" is not a metaphor — it is a corporate fact with consequences for accounts, terms and complaint handling. This brand happens to have an unusually well-documented and unusually strange chain of ownership, which makes it a good worked example.
The chain, stage by stage
Five dated stages. Each is a matter of public record rather than inference.
February 2015 — the brand is sold
Gamesys sold the Jackpotjoy brand to The Intertain Group, a Canadian online gaming operator established in 2014, for a minimum of £425.8 million.
January 2017 and June 2018 — the buyer renames itself
The Intertain Group became known as Jackpotjoy in January 2017, then as JPJ Group in June 2018. At that point the brand name had become the company name.
September 2019 — the reverse takeover
JPJ Group carried out a reverse takeover of Gamesys — the company that had built and sold the brand four years earlier — and subsequently took the Gamesys Group name.
October 2021 — the American acquisition
Bally's Corporation made an offer for the group in March 2021 valuing it at US$2.7 billion. The transaction completed on 1 October 2021.
Common questions
What is a sister site?
Two brands are sister sites when they are operated by the same company or run on the same platform inside the same group. In practice that often means shared game libraries, similar terms, common payment processing and — importantly — shared responsible-gambling infrastructure in some respects. It does not usually mean shared accounts or shared balances, and it should never be assumed that self-exclusion at one automatically covers another unless the operator states so.
Why does the ownership chain matter to me as a player?
Mostly for three practical reasons. Complaints escalate through the operating company, not the brand, so knowing the company is knowing where a dispute actually goes. Terms often follow group-wide templates, so a policy you disliked at one brand may well reappear at another. And "trying a different site" within the same group is a smaller change than it appears from the outside.
Does an American parent change anything for British players?
Not in terms of the rules that apply to you. Operations serving Great Britain are regulated by the Gambling Commission regardless of where the ultimate parent is listed, and your protections come from that licence rather than from the parent's nationality. What ownership changes can affect over time is strategy — which brands get investment, which are retired — but that is a commercial matter rather than a regulatory one.
How can I check who runs a gambling site?
The operator's own site is required to identify the licensed operating company, usually in the footer or terms, and the Gambling Commission's public register lets you look that company up and see what it holds. Working from the company rather than the brand is the whole trick — brands are marketing, companies are what the licence and any complaint attach to.
