One of Europe's largest online gambling operators, Unibet, has announced the acquisition of competitors Nordic Betting Ltd, the operator behind the popular Bet24 site.

The acquisition was announced today and will cost Unibet €13.5 million in cash, according to Malta Today.

Operating from Malta, Bet24 has over the past years grown to become one of the biggest and most popular operators in especially the Scandinavian markets.

The company has among other things been pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy in its poker branch with signings of some of Scandinavia's best poker players, headlined by SCOOP Main Event champion, Thomas "kalle" Pedersen.

The Bet24 poker team also penned deals with Danish football national team coach Morten Olsen and former Liverpool FC icon Jan Mølby.

However, following the acquisition it now remains unknown what will happen with Bet24, although it appears that the brand will be buried completely in time.

Sources have told Poker.org that employees will likely be offered new positions in a new merged Unibet brand, and Bet24 clients will likewise see their accounts transferred to Unibet in due time.

Bet24 will as such continue to trade as normal, but it appears to be clear that Unibet intents to merge the brands into one under the Unibet branch.

This was also the chosen strategy when Unibet acquired French operator Solfive last year and Australian betting operator Betchoice, which has now become Unibet.com.au.

Unibet's poker arm currently runs on the Microgaming poker network.

As part of the transaction, Unibet will further transfer 45 employees to new headquarters in Malta, in accordance with Maltese law and regulations applicable to the transfer of business.