Gala Bingo closes Flutter sportsbook
Operator discontinues OpenBet-powered product less than two years after launch
Gala Bingo has closed its online sportsbook Flutter after the female-targeted betting product failed to gain sufficient traction since launch, eGaming Review has learned.
The OpenBet-powered product, which closed its doors to customers in the past few weeks, was originally launched in May 2014 and was, according to the firm, intended to break down the “macho and often impenetrable world of sports betting”.
The sportsbook was developed in partnership with Gala’s sister company Coral and saw OpenBet’s LivServ and LiveOdds publish price feeds provided by Coral for live betting markets.
Featuring markets on sports, politics, celebrities and TV shows, Flutter was designed to appeal specifically to recreational female bettors and marked the first time a major online bingo brand had entered the UK betting market.
The launch of Flutter was followed a week later by the release of a lottery betting tab which has also since been pulled from GalaBingo.com.
The Lotto service offered fixed-odds bets on lotteries worldwide including the Euro Millions, Health Lottery, Australian Oz Lotto and New York Lotto.
However the performance of the two products did little to derail the continued growth of Gala Bingo, which last year picked up two eGR Operator awards, including Bingo Operator of the Year, and saw full-year net revenues rise 26% year-on-year.
Gala Bingo was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.