Launches and sign-ups extra 22 May 2015

Malta-based supplier Yggdrasil Gaming has announced the launch of its new “industry-first” promotional feature Super Free Spins.

Yggdrasil’s latest concept enables operators to award different player segments with an unlimited number of spins and will be launched first by Vera&John for a trial period.

“Standard free spins are the most common promotion in online slots, but they have become pretty boring for players,” Fredrik Elmqvist, CEO of Yggdrasil Gaming, said. “There’s nothing new and often they don’t win anything which is why we have launched Super Free Spins.”

“This concept gives operators the chance to provide their players with a ‘spin until you win’ mechanic on high variance games, which is a first for the industry,” he added.

Online slots supplier NetEnt has this week launched its latest mobile-first slots game Stickers.

The five-reel, three-row video slot was built in HTML5 for both desktop and mobile, featuring regular Wild symbols that transform into Sticky Wild symbols to activate Sticky Spins.

“Stickers is a game that focuses on ease of use and intuition, which will appeal to all gaming types,” Simon Hammon, chief product officer of NetEnt, said.

“Stickers brings the perfect blend of rich graphics, music and fun gameplay to guarantee it will become a firm favourite,” Hammon added.

Online betting exchange Smarkets has this week unveiled the full launch of its in-play betting feature Instant Match following an initial beta testing phase.

The new feature matches bets instantly so that traders never miss a price due to a delay by utilising real-time data and the London-based firm has rolled out the concept with an additional 300 markets.

“We knew we needed to provide something better than the existing solutions for in-play bets,” Smarkets CEO, Jason Trost, said.

“The eight-second delay prevalent within in-play betting today needed to change,” he continued. “It’s cumbersome from a customer experience perspective and we believed we could do better.”

Venture capital firm Optimizer Invest has signed a deal with online gambling group NIO to create a new egaming cloud services company.

As part of the agreement the Scandinavian investment firm will acquire a 10% stake in NIO’s iGamingCloud (iGC) subsidiary for a sum of €1m.

“We couldn’t be more exited to partner with iGC to bring its innovative cloud services to more igaming operators,” Andre Lavold, partner and co-founder of Optimizer Invest, said.

“This product has the potential to be a real game changer for the wider community of the iGaming industry,” he added.

Ladbrokes has finally introduced cash out functionality for mobile customers, more than a year after competitors including Paddy Power and William Hill launched similar features on their mobile products.

Cash out will be available on 18 markets across 15 sports on Ladbrokes’ mobile sportsbook, with football, tennis, cricket, snooker and darts all covered. Further markets are to be added on an ongoing basis over the summer.

“During Q1 we prioritised the introduction of the cash out functionality. While it isn’t a new concept for customers we recognise it’s an important part of what we need to deliver to be competitive and it’s one of the key parts of our plans for 2015,” Andrew Bagguley, Ladbrokes’ director of digital, said.

Betfred has launched a new messenger app modelled on a WhatsApp style user interface that allows users to place bets and check on the status of open bets.

The app, developed by digital agency Degree 53, is available for iOS and Android and also provides users with updates on events and the latest prices.

“The apps provide customers with a new channel to interact with Betfred. Placing messages, receiving sport event information, including live scores, direct to the mobile device are new innovative features and a superb addition to our digital offer,” Rakesh Chablani, managing director of Betfred.com, said.

German retail and online operator Tipico has moved to bolster its mobile offering with the launch of a new native application for iOS.

The Tippn app was built in collaboration with Berlin-based developer Couchsport and will be initially available through the German Apple app store.

Focus has been put on usability and navigation, with bets placed by dragging a logo of the team you want to back from a selection of prompts into a circle on the stripped-down UI. Accumulators can be built by dragging multiple teams into the circle.

Odds comparison site Oddschecker has launched a new bingo tab as part of a wider push into scaling up its online gaming affiliate business.

The firm, which was recently acquired by CVC Capital Partners, launched a new gaming tab on its website last week featuring the new bingo sub-section and its existing casino arm and is currently promoting seven bingo brands including Mecca Bingo, 888Ladies, Jackpotjoy and Virgin Bingo.

Speaking to eGR, Oddschecker’s commercial manager Harry Bowden said that the company saw bingo as a growth opportunity for the business alongside casino.

Daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator DraftKings continues to grow its roster of partners after striking a promotional agreement with motor racing series NASCAR.

Under the three-year agreement DraftKings will become NASCAR’s official daily fantasy sports partner, and will hold and exclusive license to develop and launch NASCAR-branded games.

DraftKings will also have access to a direct data feed from NASCAR that contains real-time race and driver statistics, to help players draft their team.