News round-up 9 October 2015
This weekâs news in brief sees Nektan secure new funding while Betfair and Gala Coral roll out app updates
Mobile gaming platform provider Nektan secured a new £2.75m financing package as it looked to grow its footprint in the US market and expand its European business. The firm said the funding would underpin US expansion into the land-based market. âRespin, our US joint venture, is continuing to build on its strong momentum as it accelerates the addition of new contracts with casino partners for Xtraspin wheels,â Gary Shaw, Nektan chairman, said.
In this weekâs app updates, Betfair updates its iOS exchange app to support to additional football markets while also improving navigation between horse racing events. Meanwhile Gala updated its Slots and Games iOS app by adding new games and enhancing services and features.
Worldwide mobile gambling revenues will more than double by 2018 as the sector continues to grow well ahead of the rest of the market. According to Edison Investment Researchâs new Mobile Gambling Spotlight report, the mobile segment is forecast to grow at 27.5% per year until 2018 to around £12.5bn, up from £4.7bn last year. And according to Edison analyst Eric Opara, mobile is not just cannibalising growth from desktop. âYou can never be precise about this but operators estimate that 30% of revenue growth is incremental. They do believe mobile is growing the pie,â Opara told eGR Mobile Intelligence.
William Hill unveiled three new apps designed to offer punters alternative betting opportunities, as part of its continued in-house innovation drive. The iOS products have been created by a small team of developers working in WHLabs, which has offices in Shoreditch and Tel Aviv, with Hills announcing a limited roll-out in order to gather feedback before a wider launch later this year.