Launches and sign-ups 09 May 2012
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (03 May to 09 May 2012).
Breaking news: bwin.party signs 10-year tribal Cali poker deal
Jim Ryan, co-CEO of bwin.party, tells eGaming Review he met with a number of “amazing” organisations but that United Auburn Indian Community had “best cultural fit”.
bwin.party has strengthened its potential operating power in the US should state-by-state regulation pass by signing a 10-year B2B online poker deal with one of California’s largest and most influential native American tribes.
Bwin.party, one of Europe’s largest listed online gaming operators, announced this evening it had entered into a “formal agreement” with the United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC) to offer online poker services in California “if suitable intrastate legislation is enacted in the state”.
The UAIC owns and operates the Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento, California, a 200,000 square foot venue that opened in June 2003, offering slot machines, video gaming, and various table games. It is not, however, part of the California Online Poker Association (COPA), a consortium of around 60 tribes and card rooms that make up around 60% of the state’s poker revenues. In late June last year Playtech signed an initial play-for-fun poker software licensing deal with COPA and has since launched the Calshark website ahead of potential regulation.
As a federally recognised California Indian tribe that already operates a casino resort within the state, UAIC would be a qualified licence applicant under legislation proposed in the California State Senate and would secure and maintain the necessary licences to operate online poker services there. bwin.party would provide the technology and operations expertise to power the services plus related support. The agreement would be for a 10-year period from the date that online poker services are launched, a statement read.
Breaking news: Playtech in social u-turn as Q1 revenues double
Playtech has altered its deal with majority shareholder Teddy Sagi to only license social assets in which he has a beneficial interest, just a week after announcing it would purchase a stake in them outright.
The MoU concerning Playtech’s social-focused deals for Sagi-owned Viaden and CTXM “ as exclusively revealed by eGaming Review last week “ will now be amended to take the form of a licensing agreement rather than an outright purchase as the software provider pushes for a listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
Announcing its first quarter results this morning, it did not reveal the reasons behind the change, however eGR understands the swift u-turn on acquiring more of Sagi’s assets is due to transparency issues raised in part by several analysts when the social investments were announced on April 16.
At the time analyst Simon French of Panmure Gordon said the announcements would “reignite concerns over related party transactions”. French reiterated his concerns surrounding the company’s deals with Sagi and today retained his firm’s ‘Hold’ recommendation explaining “[F]lip-flopping around the terms of the social gaming investment underlines our concerns over related party transactions.”
Exclusive: SkyBet applies for Italian licence
SkyBet, via its UK-listed parent company BSkyB, has applied for an Italian online gaming licence, eGaming Review can exclusively reveal.
eGR has learned that the UK operator, on course to record more than £100m in full-year revenues in 2012, has paid around 300,000 for an Italian online gaming licence to local regulator AAMS, however it is yet to decide how it will proceed there, if it does at all. It is also not known at present what products the licence would cover, however Sky Italia is known not to be involved in the application.
A spokesman for the company yesterday confirmed the news saying that despite “not having any plans to expand overseas”, it had applied for a gaming licence in Italy, describing it as a “prudent move and one which will help us keep our options open for the future.”
Exclusive: Ladbrokes agrees IGT games supply deal
Ladbrokes has signed a deal with International Game Technology (IGT) that will see the UK operator secure the rights to integrate and offer the supplier’s best of breed online gaming products, eGaming Review can reveal.
From today Ladbrokes will be able to choose from and offer all of IGT’s new content, it said in a statement this morning.
The first step will see it integrate IGT’s Remote Gaming Server which, when complete, will provide its customers access to more than 100 of the supplier’s casino and slot games.
Tapie plots breakaway firm after FTP collapse
Groupe Bernard Tapie principal Laurent Tapie hopes to secure the services of current Full Tilt Poker staff for his own egaming company, according to an email seen by eGaming Review.
Published by independent poker news site Diamond Flush Poker, the email “ sent just hours in advance of GBT’s statement that its proposed FTP acquisition deal had failed on April 24 “ offers “the entire Pocket Kings key staff” jobs with Game Cubed, the company set up by Laurent Tapie and Prosper Masquelier in Ireland.
Tapie says in the email: “With your help and know-how, we will launch a new website that will be best of breed in 6-7 months,” but includes a caveat that it will only be launched if he is able to attract all the staff members he has approached.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
MGM to launch social gaming site
United States-facing casino operator MGM will soon roll out a social gaming site exclusively featuring its brands, chief executive Jim Murren revealed in an investor call following the company’s first-quarter results.
According to Murren the site is intended to “recreate the Las Vegas Strip experience” and will exclusively feature MGM brands.
The CEO hopes the new development “will be superior to what you currently see in the market and will be a strong customer acquisition and brand extension tool for us.”
Jaxx sells lotto business after securing Schleswig-Holstein licence
German operator JAXX SE has completed the sale of its lottery business to a group of private investors for 12.5m after the transaction fee was confirmed following extensive due diligence investigations, it has announced this morning.
JAXX’s intention to sell the division, which is comprised of its JAXX GmbH (Hamburg), JAXX GmbH (Lustenau), Vendo Spielsysteme GmbH, flux.com Telewette GmbH and JAXX UK Ltd subsidiaries, was first announced in January, with its Spanish lottery division DIGIDIS S.L. not included in the deal.
The JAXX domains, brand names and naming rights are also included and, as a result, JAXX SE will change its name to mybet Holding SE.
Bet365 in Stoke City sponsorship deal
Bet365 has been named as the new shirt sponsor of English Premier League football club Stoke City after signing a three year deal.
The operator replaces the Britannia Co-Operative Bank on the front of the club’s home and away shirts, although the financial institution retains naming rights to the club’s stadium. Britannia has sponsored the club for the past 15 years. Stoke City CEO Tony Scholes said: “The club is already hugely indebted to the support from bet365 and its owners, the Coates family.”
Lock Poker to buy Cake network assets
Lock Poker is set to break away from parent network Merge as it closes in on the acquisition of selected and as-yet-unidentified assets belonging to the Cake network.
Once completed, the network will be rebranded as Revolution Gaming in July, according to a release from Cake, which added: “This deal also allows Cake to focus efforts on its current European, South American and Asian business with another exciting announcement to soon follow.”
Lottomatica live casino launches in Italy
Evolution Gaming’s live online casino service has gone live in Italy with Lottomatica, the technology provider has announced this morning.
The choice of its live casino product “ the first solution of its kind to be approved by Italian regulator AAMS, has enabled Lottomatica to “rapidly add” real-time online casino table games to its lottery, instant win, VLT and sports betting operations in Italy, the company said in a statement today.
Unibet completes Bet24 acquisition
Unibet has completed the acquisition of rival Scandinavian operator Bet24 from Modern Times Group as it looks to challenge former monopoly Danske Spil’s market leading position.
Following the announcement of the deal last month, Unibet has now paid 80% of the 13.5m (£11.25m) acquisition price in cash, with the final 20% to be paid by the end of June. Bet24’s players will ultimately be migrated to Unibet’s platform and the site rebranded, but will remain on its current platform for an interim period.
Score Media signs William Hill partnership
Sports media company Score Media Inc. has announced a partnership which will see William Hill’s live betting odds available through its ScoreMobile FC app.
ScoreMobile FC provides live updates for over 100 football leagues worldwide, and as part of the agreement feature an integrated William Hill mobile tab, allowing customers to place bets directly through the app. The product is one of three apps developed by Score Media, alongside ScoreMobile and SportsTab, which attract around 3.6m unique visitors a month.
Microgaming has announced the release of an online slot game based on the popular football magazine Shoot. The game, first announced in late February this year, was developed in association with Pedigree Group Ltd and features images of some of football’s greatest-ever players including Pele, Beckenbauer and Keegan. Microgaming CEO Roger Raatgever commented that he was happy to be associated with the iconic brand: “We are pleased to be associated with this renowned brand, which is held in high esteem by so many, as it captivated generations of football fans in the past.
“We hope the launch of this game will not only satisfy existing gamers but attract new players, whether they are football fanatics or not!”