Launches and sign-ups 20 August 2014
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (14 August to 20 August 2014)
Gaming Realms acquires Bingoport owner for £10.5m
London-listed gaming company to consider future acquisitions after adding egaming marketing firm Blueburra Holdings
Gaming Realms has bought Bingoport-owner Blueburra Holdings for a fee which could rise to £10.5m, with the Bingo Godz owner also hinting at further acquisitions in the pipeline as it continues to scale up its bingo business.
The London-listed firm will pay an initial consideration of £5m in cash and shares for the egaming marketing company, with the remaining amount to be paid over the next three years dependent on certain performance criteria being met.
The deal will add around £1.1m of EBITDA per annum to Gaming Realms as the Group aims to further enhance its bingo marketing capabilities follows the acquisition of affiliate and marketing agency Quick Think Media last year.
Speaking to eGaming Review, co-founder and commercial director Simon Collins said the company would continue to assess similar opportunities when they arise.
PokerStars set for 2014 online casino launch
Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov says the company plans to launch an online casino on the PokerStars platform by the end of the year, after completing its $4.9bn acquisition of parent company the Rational Group in August.
Speaking to analysts following the Canadian gaming company’s Q2 2014 financial results, Baazov said Amaya plans to launch a PokerStars-branded online casino in Spain and Italy – the first admission of the poker giant’s intention to release non-poker products.
The chief executive also revealed Rational’s Full Tilt casino brand had soft launched to a small number of players in Spain, with plans to roll out in Italy at a later date.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Betfair sells Australasia stake to Crown Resorts for $10m
Betfair has sold its 50% stake in Betfair Australasia to joint-venture partner Crown Resorts for AUS$10m and withdrawn from the Australian B2C market.
Under the terms of the agreement Crown paid $10m to take complete control in the Australia-facing business and Betfair Australasia will remain solely as a B2B supplier.
The operator will maintain a B2B presence in the country after signing an agreement with Crown to supply its betting exchange platform to the casino operator, and Betfair will continue to pool liquidity from Australasia with Crown.
Amaya on target for 2015 sportsbook launch
Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov said the firm is on target for a 2015 sportsbook launch with work already underway to build an in-house Full Tilt-branded sportsbook product, but refused to rule out using a third party platform supplier.
“The expansion into sportsbook is targeted for 2015 and the company has already been building out this effort,” he told analysts after Amaya revealed its Q2 2014 financial results.
“Right now the operating expense is built in in terms of already developing an in-house sports betting product, whether we decide to license or look at any other options is something we will clarify in the future,” he added.
William Hill seals BT Sport deal
UK bookmaker William Hill has begun to ramp up its marketing strategy ahead of the start of the English Premier League football season after signing a new partnership with BT Sport.
The deal will see the Gibraltar-licensed operator sponsor Premier League, Scottish Professional Football League and FA Cup games broadcasted by the TV channel, adding to what its CEO James Henderson described as a “top-tier marketing package” with Sky Sports.
As part of the agreement, the BT Sport website and mobile app now also includes a new betting tab which links directly to William Hill’s sportsbook offering a £20 free bet.
Playtech’s iPoker trialing “revolutionary” rake allocation method
Playtech’s iPoker network is currently trialing a “revolutionary” change in the way it allocates revenue between operators on its Italian poker network ahead of a possible wider-scale roll-out.
The network has adopted a new revenue allocation method dubbed source-based rake (SBR) which changes the way in which individual player value is calculated, and it is hoped that the trial will prove the validity of the new system prior to Playtech rolling it out globally.
The new player valuation is based on two weighted aspects: the revenue generated by a player for licensees by turning deposits into rake and whether they deposited money into the network.
Oddschecker hires new ad agency ahead of marketing push
Leading affiliate Oddschecker has announced a major revamp of its marketing strategy, with creative agency Fold7 set to lead a new advertising campaign next month.
The BskyB-owned affiliate plans to release its new campaign by the end of September which will run across all Sky Sports channels, in addition to optimising CRM, social media and onsite platforms.
“Over the last six months we have tweaked our brand proposition and strategy, including an evolved brand identity, values, and clarification around our tone of voice and personality,” Andy Lulham, Oddschecker’s head of marketing, told eGR.
Gala Coral gets Realistic with slots deal
Gala Coral has boosted its online gaming content after signing a multi-year deal with slots supplier Realistic Games.
The agreement will see an initial Realistic roll-out of nine slot games to the operator’s Gala and Coral Interactive brands, all delivered via the supplier’s in-house ReGaL server and a Playtech open platform.
The first set of games, which will include Super Graphics Upside Down, Pentagram, 6 Appeal and Realistic’s own Hi-Lo Gambler, will be available via mobile, tablet and desktop devices.
Intertain eyes second 2014 acquisition
Intertain CEO John Fitzgerald says the company plans to be “very acquisitive” moving forwards with plans to acquire another company by the end of the year, following its £60m takeover of the Mandalay Media Group.
Speaking to investors after the Toronto-based company released its Q2 financial results, Fitzgerald said the social gaming sector was of particular interest with plans to launch a free-to-play product in Lat Am markets ahead of real-money regulation.
“We plan to be very acquisitive and adding good gaming companies with good management teams to our business to grow through acquisition,” he said. “We believe that having a social casino platform in markets that we want to expand in with real-money gaming would be a good move for us,” he said.
Mybet sells Spanish businesses amid restructure
German sports betting operator mybet has sold its Spanish-facing businesses as part of its ongoing corporate restructure as the firm looks to recover from a â¬5.4m loss in 2013.
The firm announced that it had divested all shares in the two Spanish firms it previously owned “ Digidis S.L. and Digidis S.A. “ in order to “eliminate potential risks” and “ensure greater stability within the group”.
Contracts for the sales of Digidis S.L. and Digidis S.A. became effective on 23 July and 8 August respectively, with mybet receiving a combined fee of â¬275,000 from the unnamed purchasing party.
Betradar adds risk management to sportsbook service
Betradar has extended its sportsbook offering into the field of risk management in a move the supplier has dubbed a “key milestone” in its quest to become a complete sportsbook provider.
Managed Trading Services enables sportsbooks to outsource their risk and liability management to Betradar either partially or completely and adds to its established pre-match and in-running price feeds, as well as its fixture building and bet settlement services.
The new risk management process will see the Sportradar subsidiary recommend whether a bet should be accepted or not by gathering essential data such as market, odds, customer categories and other trading information in addition to the use of trading liquidity algorithms.
Online gaming marketing company XLMedia has announced it has acquired a UK sports betting affiliate for $6.72m (£4m).
The company in question has yet to be named but XLMedia said it was focused on UK web and mobile traffic with additional plans to acquire a second website offering casino content.
“With our current network focused on casino products, we see good opportunities in the market to buy additional assets in the sports betting arena,” XLMedia CEO, Ory Weihs, said.
“We believe with our know-how and core competencies we will be able to optimise the new assets and integrate them into our network, as we continue to grow organically as well as through acquisitions, and enjoy the benefits of scale in this business,” he added.