Launches and sign-ups 5 November 2014
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (30 October to 5 November 2014)
888 chief reveals M&A talks
CEO Brian Mattingley says firm talks to “two or three parties” at any one time firm as it posts highest ever quarterly revenues
888 Holdings chief executive Brian Mattingley says the firm has been in talks with a number of potential acquisition targets while also dismissing any suggestion the firm itself could be up for sale.
Speaking to eGaming Review following the company’s Q3 results disclosure yesterday, Mattingley said 888 continued to “study opportunities” and could be in discussions with “two or three parties at any one stage”.
“We will always study the opportunities and our team, the people who get the information, they will review it and analyse it and if there’s something that we see as a significant benefit to us that is not too much then we will make a move,” Mattingley said.
“We [could be] actively talking to two or three parties at any one stage [but] at this particular time I can’t comment as far as to say we are moving forward,” he added.
Playtech launches “game changing” marketing automation tool
Playtech has launched a new marketing tool that automates campaign management tasks and enables its licensees to “streamline and optimise” their marketing efforts.
The ‘Campaign Manager’ tool, which has already been trialed by Paddy Power, acts as an extension to Playtech’s IMS and automates tasks such as player segmentation, multi-product and cross-channel bonusing as well as running targeted player messaging campaigns.
Paddy Power and Titanbet were among a group of licensees to first trial the system, and Paddys revealed it had recorded triple-digit increases in its campaign conversion rates after trialing it with its casino product.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Betfair to increase cross-market liquidity sharing
Betfair has made amendments to the way its flagship exchange product shares liquidity around secondary betting markets as the operator continues to crank-up investment in product on the back of the success of Cash Out and Price Rush.
Speaking to analysts and investors on Monday, Betfair COO Mark Brooker said the firm has begun to match liquidity between separate markets in the same betting event in order to boost liquidity.
Secondary markets, such as correct score or double chance, have been prone to a lack of liquidity and Brooker, who joined Betfair in April this year, said the changes would enable its more sophisticated exchange customers to bet more using the same funds due to reduced exposure benefits.
Sportech’s Football Pools goes live on NYX Gaming platform
Sportech’s FootballPools.com site has launched on NYX Gaming’s Open Platform System (OPS) as part of modernisation plans announced earlier in the year.
Swedish supplier NYX confirmed that FootballPools.com has now gone live on its OPS, giving players access to Classic Pools, Premier 10 and MatchXtra games, plus instant win slots and table games from NYX OGS.
“The Football Pools has been one of the world’s leading gaming companies for over 90 years,” David Flynn, EVP of business development at NYX Gaming, said.
Picklive reveals public floatation plans
Picklive has become the latest online gaming company to announce a public floatation with the fantasy sports operator hoping to raise around £5m through a listing on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
The listing, which is being managed by ZAI Corporate Finance, will value the firm at £10m with the raised funds raised set to be used to develop new ice hockey and cricket games to complement its current portfolio of football, baseball and NFL products.
The London-headquartered firm, which is headed up by CEO David Galan, plans to increase its international reach beyond its core UK base and its recent launch into the lucrative US market where it teamed-up with pools operator Sportech.
Camelot eyes new products as National Lottery sales fall
UK National Lottery operator Camelot is looking to drive performance with the release of “refreshing” new products after it recorded a 6.6% drop in lottery sales for the financial year ended 31 March 2014.
According to recently lodged company accounts, although profits had risen by around 8% to £58.8m year-on-year, sales of lottery tickets fell to £6.7bn.
The decline in performance was attributed to disappointing sales of its EuroMillions product and a lack of rollovers while sales figures were compared to a previous period which included a number of special events and draws tied in with the London Olympic Games.