Launches and sign-ups 5 August 2015
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (30 July 2015 to 5 August 2015)
Bwin enters branding deal with Italian retail outlets
Operator signs agreement which could see around 700 independent high-street shops and betting cafes rebrand to bwin
Bwin has struck an innovative nine-year licensing agreement in Italy which could see as many as 700 of the country’s independent retail betting establishments rebrand under the bwin banner.
Bwin.party’s sportsbook brand last week announced it had teamed up with Obiettivo 2016, a major supplier to Italy’s regulated retail industry, to offer shops and cafes the opportunity to form a network of bwin-branded retail stores.
According to the operator, the move will significantly increase its exposure to Italian bettors with bwin branding expected to appear across as much as 15% of Italy’s retail market – approximately 400 shops and 300 cafes.
Obiettivo, which has played a major role in leading the fight against the country’s unregulated CTDs, will continue to provide independent regulated land-based concessionaries with its full turnkey solution.
Ladbrokes working to bridge multi-channel product gap
Ladbrokes is preparing to ramp-up its multi-channel strategy to increase the number of customers that use both its retail and digital products and close the gap on rivals who have stolen a march on the struggling operator.
Key to this strategy will be a ‘Ladbrokes One’ approach, which will include the overhaul of its retail-focused loyalty scheme, The Grid, to create a greater overlap between retail and digital and boost the 11% of customers that currently use both channels – almost half of the 20% figure recorded by William Hill in 2014.
While The Grid, which is run through the OpenBet platform, enables customers to deposit and withdraw cash both in-shop and online it falls some way short of the multi-channel single-wallet Connect card offered by UK rival and potential merger partner Coral.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Unibet debuts new standalone bingo product
Unibet has completed the migration of its bingo product from Playtech’s Virtue Fusion to a new network powered by Estonia-based supplier Relax Gaming.
New bingo products for Unibet, Maria.com and Bingo.com all went live on across desktop and mobile last week and feature a complete design overhaul, revamped graphics and game play improvements.
The Stockholm-listed operator has also launched a new bingo loyalty programme which offers customers the opportunity to regularly spin a wheel to win cash and free spins.
Stride expands into social gaming with £25m acquisition
Online bingo operator Stride Gaming has announced its expansion into the social gaming market through the acquisition of mobile-focused firm InfiApps for US$39.2m (£25m).
Stride will pay an initial consideration of $21.2m (£13.6m) in cash for the Israel-based mobile gaming company, as well as an additional earn out of up to $18m (£11.6m) based on InfiApps financial performance over the next two years.
The acquisition, which is expected to be finalised within a week, marks Stride’s first venture into the social gaming space and comes just two months after it raised £11.2m from its initial offering on London’s Alternative Investment Market – cash chief executive officer Eitan Boyd recently told eGaming Review would be used to fund acquisitions.
Betfred launches major TV advertising campaign
Betfred is launching a major new television advertising campaign featuring owner Fred Done in a move that sees the bookmaker attempt to appeal to customers on a more personal level.
The operator teamed up with creative agency Shadowplay Productions and Liverpool-based video agency Zut to produce a series of nine adverts which will be screened on Sky Sports, Betfred TV and across social media.
The ads, which have been given the tag line ‘Be Part of the Action’ were shot at a series of different sporting venues including Haydock Park Racecourse, Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Nottingham Greyhound Stadium, Widnes Vikings’ stadium and Liverpool Olympia.
PokerStars launches biggest marketing campaign to date
PokerStars has launched the “biggest marketing campaign” in its history featuring football stars and PokerStars’ brand ambassadors Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr.
The campaign is already underway on Facebook with Ronaldo and Neymar’s Facebook fans given an exclusive preview of videos ahead of their TV launch in two weeks’ time.
Stars said the campaign would combine the social media reach of Ronaldo and Neymar, who between them have 157 million fans on Facebook, with sophisticated marketing tools to engage gaming and sports fans.
SIS expands with new trading service
SIS is branching out into the competitive sports odds provision market in a move the supplier says will see it become a “one-stop-shop” for online operators.
SIS Trading Services, which is currently in soft-launch, offers customers a full range of odds including pre-event and in-play prices on a number of sports which will initially include Spanish football and international horseracing.
The sports data provider, which is currently in the process of expanding its London-based trading team, plans to cover all major domestic and international sports as it continues to diversify away from its core retail-focused pictures and audio supply business.
Coral signs Premier League sponsorship deal
Coral has signed up to become the official betting partner of Premier League new boys Norwich City in a deal that will see the sponsor’s name attached to the club’s prestigious Barclay Stand.
The bookmaker will operate betting points throughout Norwich City’s Carrow Road stadium and sponsor the club’s historic stand, which will be renamed the Barclay Stand sponsored by Coral and feature the bookmaker’s branding.
The deal, which comes just days before the start of the new football season, will also see Coral offer Norwich City fans a range of sign-up deals and match-day specials and sponsor away days to reduce the cost for supporters.
Intralot acquires a 35% stake in Bit8
Intralot has finalised a deal to acquire a 35% stake in Bit8, six months after the lottery giant first announced its intention to invest in the platform provider.
In an announcement made last week, Intralot said it had also obtained a call option to increase its holding to 60% within the next two years on the provision that certain financial thresholds are met.
Earlier this year the two firms revealed it had entered into a strategic alliance which would see Intralot take a minority stake in Bit8 – understood at the time to be more than 25% and valued at approximately â¬30m.
Guts.com to launch Microgaming-powered poker product
Gaming Innovation Group (GIG) has signed a licensing agreement with Microgaming to launch its B2C brands on the egaming supplier’s poker network, the MPN.
The online gambling company’s flagship Guts.com brand will be the first to launch on the network later this year, expanding beyond casino and sports betting for the first time, with plans to add its Betspin.com and Rizk.com sites in 2016.
The deal may also see GIG subsidiary iGamingCloud Gaming offer poker as part of its cloud services offering to B2B clients which will be decided on a case-by-case basis by Microgaming.
Marathonbet partners Evolution for live casino launch
Sports betting operator Marathonbet has partnered with egaming supplier Evolution Gaming to launch a new live casino product on desktop and mobile.
The operator launched its live casino offering on Marathonbet.com this week with table games including live roulette, baccarat and blackjack hosted from Evolution’s live dealer studio in Latvia.
The table games are also expected to be rolled out across mobile shortly, while native live dealer services such as London Roulette and Deutsches Roulette are also in the pipeline.
Amaya Gaming completes sale of B2B assets to NYX
Amaya Gaming has finally disposed of its remaining B2B assets after completing the sale of its Chartwell and CryptoLogic businesses to NYX Gaming for CA$150m (£80m), the gaming giant has confirmed.
The Toronto-based firm decided to divest its entire B2B division back in January in a bid to reduce debt following its $4.9bn acquisition of PokerStars and Full Tilt.
As part of the deal, Amaya and NYX will enter into a supplier licensing agreement for six years that will see NYX provide casino content for Amaya’s PokerStars and Full Tilt sites.