Launches and sign-ups 19 September
A round-up of the egaming industry's launches and sign-ups from the last seven days (13 August to 19 August 2012).
Amaya closes in on Ongame acquisition
Canadian online gambling software provider Amaya Gaming group will announce its acquisition of bwin.party’s poker network Ongame for an unknown sum by the end of the week, eGaming Review can reveal.
Canadian online gambling software provider Amaya Gaming group will announce its acquisition of bwin.party’s poker network Ongame for an unknown sum by the end of the week, eGaming Review can reveal.
The service provider, that has been courting the loss-making poker network for the last two months, recently entered into an exclusive preferred bidder position with Ongame’s owner bwin.party that has been looking for a buyer since the spring of last year when it publicly deemed it a “surplus asset” following the merger of Bwin and PartyGaming.
A source within the company said the deal had been done for “two weeks” but that negotiations had been on-going for the last two months.
Amaya’s chief executive David Bassov is known to be on leave until the middle of this week and could announce the deal as soon as the next 24 hours, according to the source.
The cost of the deal is not known although bwin.party co-CEO Jim Ryan is understood to have been holding out for a similar fee to that of previous bidder Shuffle Master that had agreed to acquire the network for 19.5m in March but “mutually agreed” to cancel the deal three months later. It cited Ongame’s recent performance, along with difficult economic conditions in Europe, for making the deal no longer financially viable.
Betfair to launch poker and bingo with Playtech
Poker will initially launch in regulated markets and could result in operator leaving Ongame “ also renews casino deal with software provider.
Betfair will launch a new poker offering with Playtech in selected markets after inking a new deal with the software provider which also covers the launch of bingo and the renewal of 2009’s casino contract.
Described by Betfair as “Enabling [the company] to offer ring-fenced poker products in markets that require them,” the poker offering is set to be rolled out in Spain before the operator’s current financial year ends in April 2013.
It also plans to launch poker with Playtech in Italy “Soon after the licensed betting exchange is launched” “ the European Commission approved the country’s exchange betting decree in May this year, and the decree is likely to be passed into law before the end of 2012.
At present there is no indication that Betfair would move its dot.com offering from Ongame to Playtech. It is currently among the largest operators on the Ongame network, which eGaming Review revealed is close to being acquired by Canadian software provider Amaya Gaming.
It is unclear whether “ should it choose to move its dot.com poker offering to Playtech’s iPoker network “ it would make the segregated top tier of the network alongside the likes of William Hill, Paddy Power, Titan Poker and Poker770.
The agreement to launch bingo with Playtech comes after the company went live with a mobile bingo offering last month, with Paddy Power and William Hill the first operators to offer the product.
Bwin veterans launch multiplayer blackjack startup
vsJack, launched in the flash format, sees players take turns occupying the dealer seat.
Veterans of operators including bwin and Bodog have collaborated on a new start-up offering blackjack players the opportunity to play against each other rather than the house.
Licensed in Curaçao, vsJack offers freeplay and real-money tables, with stakes up to 5 per hand, in which players take turns in the dealer position. It is currently only available as an in-browser flash game, also playable on Android, but the company hopes to develop an iPhone version further down the line.
vsJack spokesman David Nelson, who spent three years at bwin including a period as senior product marketing manager for poker, described the devisors of the game as “all card players ourselves” and told eGaming Review “We’re not interested in being the house, so this was a more interesting route to go down.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Betfred extends Cheltenham deal
Operator’s sponsorship of Gold Cup will now run until 2015.
Betfred has extended its sponsorship of the Cheltenham Gold Cup until 2015 following the initial success of a deal signed earlier this year, the operator has confirmed.
The company agreed to sponsor this year’s Gold Cup after acquiring the Tote in a £265m deal in June 2011. Betfred managing director John Haddock said: “After the tremendous success of the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup last year, we wanted to secure a further long-term deal.
“We are delighted to be associated for three more years with the greatest steeplechase in the world and look forward to working with Cheltenham to making the race even bigger and better,” he added.
Next year’s Gold Cup is to take place on 15 March, the final day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Paddys launches camera-activated Premier League app
Users retrieve live odds by pointing iPhone camera at a televised match.
Paddy Power has announced the launch of its new Premier League app which allows its users to see live odds of a match they are watching on television by pointing an iPhone camera at the screen.
The free app, which can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store, also offers other Paddys promotions, match statistics and the ability to add match times to the iPhone calendar.
Paf signs La Liga sponsorship deal
Season-long agreement will see Finnish operator use Spanish league’s branding for events and marketing.
Finnish operator Paf has signed a season-long sponsorship deal with Spain’s top football league.
The gaming company penned a deal with Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LPF), popularly known as La Liga, late last Friday.
The agreement covers the 2012/2013 season and allows Paf to use its own branding alongside La Liga’s for events and social media communications, the company said.
Microgaming launches arcade-style slot game
Max Damage and the Alien Attack made available for download from the 32Red online casino.
Microgaming has announced the launch of a new arcade-style video slot which allows players to win a payout by shooting alien spaceships.
Max Damage and the Alien Attack has been made available for download from 32Red’s online casino and Microgaming plans to release mobile and tablet versions of the game in the coming months.
The software provider’s video slot allows players to place bets by shooting aliens and gives them six “lives’ to win randomly-generated payouts during nine levels.
Rank Group‘s proposed acquisition of the majority of Gala Coral‘s land-based casinos will cease to be formally binding at midnight tonight. The £205m deal was approved by Rank shareholders in late July, however the deal was referred to the Competition Commission the following month by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) with the former given until February next year to report back on its findings. Rank Group explained in a statement today that both parties are “continuing to assist” the Competition Commission, adding that a further statement would follow in due course.
GBI Racing, which distributes British and Irish racing to betting outlets around the world, has launched its coverage in Cyprus for the first time, following a deal with the Nicosia Race Club (NRC). The GBI Racing service will initially be broadcast in 134 betting shops for 360-plus days a year and bets placed will be integrated with the British and Irish Tote pools.
Offsidegaming has announced the launch of Inkabet.pe, the first local online operator in the Peruvian market. Phase one of the launch will include sportsbook, casino and slot games, with the addition of live casino and mobile games set to follow.
Service provider Ishir Gaming has rebranded as Ingenuity Gaming. MD Sidharth Swarup said “The name Ingenuity sums up everything that we are as a company “ innovative, forward-thinking and constantly pushing the boundaries of gaming excellence.”