Weekly news round-up 15 May 2015

This week’s news in brief sees mobile growth driving Q1 revenues and new launches from Betfred and Tipico

Mybet’s new digital strategy is beginning to pay dividends. The firm reported that mobile now accounts for 13.8% of online staking, compared to just 1% a year ago. The firm also announced a partnership with trading platform and services provider Amelco to “comprehensively overhaul” its sportsbook, which will involve new mobile offerings including a native application expected this summer. “We saw a large increase on the mobile section,” Markus Peuler, Mybet’s CFO, said. “We aren’t even advertising the mobile website but it is performing well. It proves to us that mobile is the future. We will continue to build on that and we have a few things in the pipeline.”

Strong mobile growth helped Paddy Power to a 36% increase in net online revenues during the period 1 January to 11 May 2015, with mobile now accounting for 63% of online revenues. “Differentiated product alongside distinctive brands and marketing capability, are at the core of our strategy to win,” the firm said.

Mobile-focused games developer Yggdrasil saw a 156% increase in year-on-year revenues to SEK2.3m (£178,000) for the first three months of 2015, as the firm nears profit two years on from receiving investment from operator Cherry. Negative EBITDA of SEK0.4m (£31,000) was also an improvement on the SEK1.2m (£93,000) lost in Q1 2014 as the firm edges towards profitability. CEO Fredrik Elmqvist said that deals with large scale operators including Betsson and GVC should power further growth through the rest of 2015.

Pokerstars and Unibet were among the apps back in the Swedish Apple App Store this week, after the technology giant began reinstating gambling content after the Swedish Gambling Authority (Lotteriinspektionen) dropped its case questioning the legality of the apps last month. The majority of the around 40 apps removed by Apple in February should be back online by the end of this week, although eGR Mobile Intelligence understands that operators must put in a request to Apple to ensure they are reinstated.

German retail and online operator Tipico moved to bolster its mobile offering with the launch of a new native application for iOS. The Tippn app was built in collaboration with Berlin-based developer Couchsport and will be initially available through the German Apple app store. Focus has been put on usability and navigation, with bets placed by dragging a logo of the team you want to back from a selection of prompts into a circle on the stripped-down UI. Accumulators can be built by dragging multiple teams into the circle.

Betfred has partnered with supplier and developer Bettorlogic to launch a new feature focused on accumulators, as the firm steps up its mobile offering. ACCAttacka will use data from Bettorlogic to suggest football accumulators to users based on their chosen stake and the amount they’d like to potentially win. The feature is designed to circumvent the tricky user journey usually required to place an accumulator on mobile.