Launches and sign-ups 28 March 2012
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (2 March to 28 March 2012).
Betfair fixed-odds sportsbook edges closer
Operator will run new product alongside core exchange offering.
Betfair has confirmed its plans to launch a fixed-odds sportsbook offering distinct from its core betting exchange.
The operator had already announced its intention to introduce such a product in South Africa, where fixed-odds sports betting is the only legal form of online gambling, and has applied for the relevant licence in the Commonwealth country’s Western Cape province.
However, interim chief executive Stephen Morana has confirmed to financial news site This is Money that the operator plans to bring in “an integrated risk product that will complement the exchange, not compete with it.”
The statement supports comments made to eGaming Review last December, with Morana declaring at the time that the launch would take place in time for June’s European football championships and that Betfair would become “the market leader” in fixed-odds as well as exchange betting.
Plumbee launches its first Facebook slot
Social games studio Plumbee, led by former EA Playfish marketing director Raf Keustermans, has beta-launched its first Facebook slot.
The London-based start-up, whose COO Gerald Tan and CTO Jodi Moran worked with CEO Keustermans at Playfish, has gone live with Mirrorball Slots following a $2.8m cash injection from French private equity investor Idinvest Partners.
Plumbee has also secured the services of Gaming Edge Associates’ Ben Fried and Anton Bell, with the former Betfair employees joining former Playfish studio GMs John Earner and Dan Fiden on its newly formed Advisory Board.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups
Bwin launches iPad poker app
bwin has launched a real-money poker application for the iPad.
The app will offer Texas hold’em using the same mobile interface deployed in the operator’s iPhone and Android apps released last year. The launch comes less than a week after the release of the iPad 3, estimated to have already sold three million units worldwide in its first three days on the market.
Unibet.fr to relaunch tomorrow
Unibet’s dot.fr site will relaunch in beta tomorrow in order to retain as many reactivated customers as possible after “better than expected” returns from its rebrand of the former EurosportBET site, writes Robin Harrison from Paris.
Julien Brun, general manager of Unibet France, told eGaming Review that following a rebrand in January, the company now faces the challenge of ensuring it is able to retain customers who were reactivated from its player database when it left the market following regulation in July 2010.
Mr Green in Quickfire agreement
Malta-licensed casino operator Mr Green has entered into an agreement with Microgaming to incorporate a selection of games from the software provider’s Quickfire platform.
Quickfire joins IGT, Betsoft, Net Entertainment and Nyx Interactive in supplying games content to the operator, which was a new entry at number 32 on 2011’s eGaming Review Power 50.
Jackpot Party launches social slot on Facebook
WMS subsidiary Jackpot Party has announced the launch of FriendSlot, a free-to-play social slots game that uses Facebook friend list data.
Cmedia launches social poker offering
Barcelona-based online marketing company Cmedia has launched Soda Poker, a social poker offering on Facebook targeting Spanish, French and Italian players.
Fortuna expands Polish retail presence
Fortuna Entertainment Group (FEG) has been granted permission to acquire 80 betting shops in Poland by the country’s Ministry of Finance.
Circle Line Poker launches on Everleaf
Malta-licensed poker site Circle Line Poker has gone live on the Everleaf network and launched its affiliate programme.
Betradar has launched its new Live Centre Euro 2012 mobile app ahead of the European football championships in Poland and Ukraine this summer. The app is compatible with all iPhone and iPad devices, and allows players to follow games live using a series of icons and overlays. It also displays tournament-specific odds and integrates the latest news on the tournament, either as a flash or HTML5 application.