Partygaming's Cashcade gives Dragonfish bingo deal two-year boost
Foxy Bingo owner Cashcade has signed a two-year extension to its contract with 888 business-to-business arm Dragonfish to keep its bingo brands on the Dragonfish platform despite its acquisition by 888 rival PartyGaming in July last year.
FOXY Bingo owner Cashcade has signed a two-year extension to its contract with 888 business-to-business arm Dragonfish to keep its bingo brands on the Dragonfish platform.
The deal, which ties revenue streams from Cashcade brands including Foxy, Think and Cheeky into the Dragonfish platform until May 2014, follows the widespread mooting of a possible move off the network by 888 rival PartyGaming following PartyGaming’s buy of Cashcade in July 2009.
Dragonfish managing director Gabi Campos said PartyGaming’s decision to keep Cashcade on Dragonfish, which also avoids the disruptive effect of moving the bingo operator’s players to another platform, reflected the strength of the Dragonfish bingo software and back-end.
Campos said: “Major standalone networks require software with sufficient flexibility to allow a variety of marketing campaigns that can be integrated into the back office, and Dragonfish can provide this.”
Cashcade is the largest bingo operator in the UK, and owns standalone networks Foxy Bingo, Cheeky Bingo, Think Bingo, Little Big Bingo, Bingo Scotland and Foxy Zero, which are all powered by Dragonfish. PartyGaming also recently relaunched its ITV Bingo website via Cashcade.
Dragonfish-owner 888 tied Wink and Posh Bingo into the Dragonfish network by acquiring the rooms from owners Daub for £60m in December 2009.
Investor confidence
The deal has been well received by brokers. KBC Peel Hunt analyst Nick Batram said: “We had grown more confident that Dragonfish would retain its largest B2B client but today’s announcement should still be greeted positively. The financial terms are unlikely to match the previous deal but we would still expect Cashcade to be a major contributor. In addition, retaining Cashcade removes a significant uncertainty and further boosts Dragonfish’s credibility.”
Daniel Stewart analyst James Hollins said: “This provides useful revenue visibility in 888’s income stream, as well as continuing to support a highly liquid bingo network that is all-important for future client wins. Although we still have concerns over the liquidity in 888’s standalone poker network, essentially limiting its B2B offer to casino, games and bingo, we are encouraged by today’s announcement.”
Other recent strategic moves in the growing bingo space have included rival bingo network Virtue Fusion’s purchase by Israeli software giant Playtech in February this year.
This was followed by a string of deals including BoyleSports joining the Virtue Fusion network last month; Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment (HIE), launching Caesar’s Bingo Online with Gamesys and Gamesys launching bingo for UK radio network Heart FM; and Bingo.com joining the Unibet bingo and casino network.