Launches and sign-ups 28 May 2014
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (22 May to 28 May 2014)
BetVictor acquired by Michael Tabor in restructure
Victor Chandler and CEO Michael Carlton to step down as part of a company restructure
British gambling and horseracing millionaire Michael Tabor has acquired BetVictor in its entirity for undisclosed sum with founder and current chairman Victor Chandler stepping down as part of the changes.
In a complete restructure of BetVictor, CEO Michael Carlton will also be stepping down, and alongside Chandler will work with the company as a consultant.
The changes have received in principle regulatory approval from the Gibraltar Gambling Licensing Authority under whose licence BetVictor operates.
“Having owned and led this business for more than 40 years, I looked towards the future and I decided that the company would be best served under new ownership and leadership,” Chandler said in a statement.
Bwin.party begins mobile push with app upgrade
Bwin.party’s mobile sportsbook app has received a major upgrade with casino games added as part of a wider mobile push, two months after the operator outlined its desire to reclaim the lead in the platform.
The update, released to iOS apps last week, is the first major work conducted on the app since bwin.party’s full year results in March and, speaking to eGaming Review, a company spokesperson said the upgrade was part of a harder push on the channel.
Casino games have been added to the firm’s sportsbook app for the first time, allowing players to switch seamlessly to between the two verticals without having to launch a separate application.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Paddy Power unveils enhanced price marketing tool
Paddy Power has launched a new marketing platform to offer sportsbook customers personalised price enhancements with a major push planned prior to the World Cup following a mobile launch.
The firm’s Enhanced Price Marketing platform is already active on desktop and will go live on mobile pre-World Cup, when Paddy Power will begin pushing it more aggressively as it moves towards a personalised marketing approach.
The software allows the Irish operator to bring special ‘Power Play’ offers to the attention of customers as soon as they log in to their online accounts, instead of relying on banner ads and email communications.
BetVictor plots post-World Cup bingo launch
Gibraltar-licensed operator BetVictor is preparing to launch its first bingo product following the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, eGR understands.
BetVictor Bingo was originally slated to launch in the first quarter of 2014, following a soft launch in Q4 last year, but the launch was delayed due to technical issues and the departure of product manager Louise Mian.
A source told eGR that integration of the product was complete and it is also understood the operator is waiting until after the tournament when it has a sufficient marketing budget to give its new product a boost.
Bwin.party grows B2B payments arm with PXP buy
Bwin.party has announced the acquisition of UK-based card payments company PXP Solutions, a move which significantly accelerates the growth of its B2B payments arm.
The deal for an undisclosed sum is part of the operator’s plans to expand its Kalixa payments business and increase the proportion of revenue it generates from external sources.
Kalixa processed 2.5bn of transactions in 2013, just 8% of which derived from outside of bwin.party and the operator set a target to grow external revenues to 85% by 2017.
Betfair strikes Odobo content deal
Game development program Odobo has struck a deal with Betfair to supply the operator with its full portfolio of HTML5 games via the Odobo Marketplace.
The agreement allows Betfair to access 23 games initially with an additional 60 games to be made available before the end of the year.
The Malta-licensed company is now the second major operator to partner with Odobo following its deal with bet365 and is expected to launch the first games in the coming weeks.
Gala Bingo betting product goes live
Gala Bingo has completed the launch of its new female-targeted betting product ‘Flutter’ in partnership with sportsbook provider OpenBet with mobile integration planned for the near future.
The bingo brand’s sportsbook, first revealed by eGR, went live on GalaBingo.com yesterday in time for the FIFA World Cup and features a range of sports and entertainment markets.
Flutter was developed in partnership with sister company Coral and designed to appeal to Gala Bingo’s predominantly female player base as it looks to break down the barriers to the “macho and often impenetrable world of sports betting”.
OPAP sets 2 June sportsbook launch date
Greek gambling monopoly OPAP has set a target of 2 June to launch its first online sports betting product and has told eGR it will dismiss any challenge over the legality of doing so.
OPAP chief exec Kamil Ziegler informed shareholders at yesterday’s AGM that the operator hoped to be live with an online sportsbook in time for next month’s football World Cup, and speaking to eGR a company spokesperson confirmed its aim to launch on 2 June.
With the football World Cup kicking off on 12 June the date has served as an internal target in order to have operations in place with time to spare.
Staatsloterij targeting early Dutch online launch
The Dutch National Lottery is already in discussions with egaming suppliers regarding its online diversification plans and aims to be live with new products in time for when the market opens early next year.
The Nederlandse Staatsloterij outlined its diversification plans in its 2013 annual report, released last week, and discussed the need to offer new products to “meet changing demands of consumers”.
The report stated the importance of bringing third party suppliers and, speaking to eGR, a spokesperson for Staatsloterij confirmed that talks are already underway.
Private equity firm to buy stake in Sportradar
Sports data provider Sportradar is set to embark on an aggressive growth strategy after securing new investment from European private equity firm EQT VI.
The Switzerland-based firm said the deal would enable the firm to increase its presence internationally, invest in new products, attract more customers and boost its acquisition strategy.
“With our new partner, we are able to leverage EQT VI’s global network of industrial advisors and its expertise in supporting growth strategies,” Carsten Koerl, founder and CEO of Sportradar, said.
Win launches first real-money slots game
Bwin.party’s social gaming arm Win has announced the launch of its first real-money slots game on two of the operator’s main desktop sites.
Teddy Pets is Win’s most popular slots title on its Slots Craze app and is now available on bwin.com and partycasino.com in the UK with plans to roll-out the game on a country-by-country basis in Europe.
The slots title was previously available as a free-to-play game on Facebook and iOS and the social games company said it will launch more real-money enabled games in the near future.
NYX Gaming Group’s Australian studio NexGen Gaming has announced the launch of a follow-up to its 2012 hit Merlin’s Millions.
The company’s new Flash and HTML5 slots game Merlin’s Magic Respins was released on NYX OGS and features multi-level SuperBet technology.
“Merlin’s Magic Respins presented a unique challenge to our design team, who tasked themselves with creating a sequel to one of NextGen’s best performing games that improved on the highly innovative gameplay, whilst maintaining the character of the original” NYX Gaming Group commercial director, David Johnson, said.
Egaming software provider EveryMatrix has announced the launch of a new operator Buck & Butler via the firm’s EveryMatrix Web API product.
The new feature enables companies to build customised websites with the Buck & Butler front-end developed without an in-house team of developers.
“We are delighted to be able to launch such a fantastic new operator integrating this innovative feature,” Ebbe Groes, chief executive of EveryMatrix, said.
“Buck and Butler have greatly impressed me with their skill, enthusiasm and rich ideas. We look forward to launching more sites utilizing Web API,” he added.