Launches and sign-ups extra 21 March 2014
A round-up of the latest launches and deals in the egaming industry, including Dafabet, SG Gaming and Optimal Payments
The gambling industry’s main trade associations have joined forces to create the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG), a new trade body designed to work on new socially responsible gambling initiatives.
The IGRG comprises of the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB); British Amusement & Catering Trade Association (BACTA); Bingo Association (BA); National Casino Forum (NCF); and Remote Gambling Association (RGA).
“The trade associations have been working together constructively for some time, especially on consumer protection issues, and the establishment of IGRG is a natural evolution of that,” Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the RGA, said.
“IGRG will also incorporate the good work that has been done recently by the P3 Group of companies,” he added.
Asian egaming operator Dafabet has been announced as the new title sponsor of the 2014 World Snooker Championship which runs from April 19 to May 5.
Dafabet replaces Betfair as this year’s sponsor and becomes the fourth gaming company to headline the event in Sheffield.
“We are very proud to be title sponsor of snooker’s flagship event as the World Championship is rightfully recognised globally,” Dimitris Karatzas, Dafabet’s managing director of online betting and gaming, said
We look forward to the excellent exposure we will receive over the duration of the tournament and of course seeing Dafabet at the iconic Crucible,” he continued.
The agreement marks the bookmaker’s second snooker sponsorship deal of the year after it was also the headline sponsor of The Masters tournament in January.
Scientific Games subsidiary SG Gaming has renewed its contract with independent betting shop operator Corbett Bookmakers for an additional four-year period.
The contract is now set to terminate in 2018 and will see SG Gaming provide its Vision and Infinity cabinets to 61 of the bookmakers’ shops.
“We are thrilled Corbett has decided to extend their deal with us and we look forward to working with Michael Corbett and his team for another four years,” Phil Horne, SG Gaming UK group managing director, said.
“SG Gaming’s combined offer of content and operational support has been instrumental to the success of the partnership,” he added.
London-listed online payments provider Optimal Payments has announced a partnership extension with Canadian operator Loto-Québec.
The deal will see Optimal Payments continue to provide its payment services including residency validation and age verification to the operator’s Espacejeux.com online gaming site.
“Our experience and expertise in regulated gaming provides Loto-Québec with the security of knowing they have a trusted partner that can meet their regulatory requirements and understands the fast evolving online gaming market,” Neil Erlick, executive vice president business development of Optimal Payments, said.
Social gaming software provider ISIS Lab has announced the UK release of its regulated social online gaming platform in partnership with casino management company Cladstone.
The ISIS Friends network, which ISIS claims is the first social network built for the UK online gaming market, was launched this week under the isisfriends.com and isisfriends.co.uk domains.
The platform includes a portfolio of bingo, casino, arcade and scratch card games, as well as cashier and customer support functions and social networking features such as profiles and photo sharing.