CVC to Acquire GLI in Major Industry Shakeup

Leading international private markets manager with a global network of 30 local offices, CVC Capital Partners, is getting ready to take over Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), one of the gaming industry’s most influential testing and compliance firms.

The planned acquisition, which surfaced through recent antitrust filings in Austria and Malta, would give the private equity giant full ownership of GLI, along with its affiliates Worldwide Laboratories and Kobetron.

Avalon to Take “Sole Control” of GLI

According to official filings, CVC would proceed via a UK-based entity, Avalon Buyer Limited, which was set up earlier this year, in April. 

The Austrian federal competition authority (BWB) says Avalon, managed by two CVC executives based in the U.S., will take “sole control” of the GLI group, with the acquisition mostly concerning “testing, inspection and certification services for the gaming industry”.

Austrian companies whose “legal or economic interests” might be influenced by the merger are invited to weigh in on the deal, in writing, until July 31. Malta’s competition office, which posted its own filing on July 11, had a shorter seven-day window for comments, which has already closed.

A Comeback to the Gaming Sector 

Founded in New Jersey in 1989 by James Maida and Paul Magno, GLI has quietly become one of the most important behind-the-scenes players in gaming. 

Over the past three and a half decades, the company, whose expertise goes well beyond classic slot machines and table games, has expanded across 35 jurisdictions worldwide and hired 1,800 employees. 

Regulators around the world continue to rely on GLI’s prestigious stamp of approval to showcase products meeting the most rigorous technical and security standards in the industry.

The company’s ongoing development has, however, fueled speculation about its future. Last year, Maida hinted that he was open to exploring new ownership structures, though his priority remained envisioning the way GLI would look “in the next 35 years.”

For CVC, the deal would mark a return to the gaming sector, where it once held stakes in William Hill, Sky Bet, and Sisal before exiting much of that portfolio in recent years. 

It would also mirror a similar move earlier this year, when BMM Testlabs, GLI’s main competitor, was acquired by Visualize Group in a private equity-backed transaction.

That deal left BMM founder Martin Storm with a meaningful stake and ongoing leadership role, raising questions about whether Maida and Magno might strike a similar arrangement with CVC.

What’s clear is that private equity is taking a fresh interest in gaming compliance just as more jurisdictions open their markets and regulators tighten oversight. 

As one executive noted after the BMM acquisition, the need for “safe and compliant gaming” is still on the rise.