Launches and sign-ups 6 April 2016
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (31 March 2016 to 6 April 2016)
NYX Gaming lands ?270m OpenBet acquisition
William Hill and Sky Betting & Gaming take stakes in NYX as firm fends-off competition to land sportsbook supplier
NYX Gaming has pulled off a stunning ?270m acquisition of leading sportsbook supplier OpenBet in a deal which also sees William Hill and Sky Betting & Gaming (SB&G) take a stake in the Canadian company.
NYX, which will take full control of the business from selling party Vitruvian Partners, has agreed to pay the full consideration in cash, with ?95.4m of that sum settling a third-party OpenBet debt.
To partially fund the transaction, OpenBet customers William Hill and SB&G have made a combined equity investment of ?100m into NYX, while William Hill will also work alongside OpenBet as part of a three-year development programme which NYX said would help modernise the OpenBet technology.
Toronto-listed NYX, which currently provides casino and poker products, said the acquisition of OpenBet completes its vertical portfolio with integration of the two business estimated to provide annual cost and revenue synergies of approximately ?3m and ?5m respectively.
William Hill adds gamification to enhance sportsbook engagement
William Hill has unveiled a new sportsbook achievements feature as the operator looks to replicate the success of gamification in other verticals.
The achievements page, which is currently in beta mode, was initially made available to 5% of desktop customers in December before going out to half of all desktop traffic in the last few weeks.
The new feature enables customers to earn points, badges and increase their rating based on their betting activity and completing certain tasks.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Playtech expands Spanish footprint with MARCA sportsbook
MARCA has launched a new online sports betting and gaming product with Playtech, bringing to an end the Spanish sports newspaper’s deal with GTECH.
The sports media brand’s MARCAapuestas.es site is now live on desktop and mobile, featuring an online sportsbook and casino tab which will also release a range of new live casino and slots titles in the coming months.
The launch is part of a new multi-year deal between Playtech and MARCA‘s owner Unidad Editorial after it had originally launched an online sportsbook with GTECH G2 in November 2012.
Partypoker shakes things up with new Sit & Go game
Partypoker has rolled out a new twist to the sit & go game format with players given the chance to win up to 10,000 times their buy-in.
The poker operator last week launched Sit & Go Hero, a “fast-paced” bounty tournament with a bonus worth up to $50,000.
The game offers five buy-ins, $1, $3, $5, $10, and $20, with random draws determining the multiplier and total prize pool, plus which player has the bounty on their head.
Catena Media acquires affiliate AskGamblers for ?12m
Catena Media has acquired casino affiliate AskGamblers for ?15m (?12m), the egaming performance marketing firm’s biggest acquisition to date.
The deal, which is Catena Media’s third acquisition of the year, is formed of an initial sum of ?3m (?2.4m) for the Serbia-based affiliate, ?8.25m (?6.6m) when all assets have been transferred, with a further ?3.75m (?3m) payable six months after completion.
According to figures released this week, AskGamblers recorded sales of approximately ?810,000 during Q1 2016 with a profit margin of 80%.
Six UK-facing operators go live with Yggdrasil
A clutch of operators including Unibet, Betsson and LeoVegas have expanded their UK-facing gaming portfolios after supplier Yggdrasil completed its launch in the market.
Games powered by the Cherry-owned supplier went live in the UK last week, with Mr Green, Vera&John and ComeOn also launching Yggdrasil games thanks to existing partnerships.
“We’re thrilled to be live in the UK, which is now an extremely important market for Yggdrasil,” Fredrik Elmqvist, Yggdrasil CEO, said.
Betway signs champion flat jockey de Sousa as brand ambassador
Betway has added to its growing stable of high-profile horseracing brand ambassadors after signing a deal with reigning champion flat jockey Silvestre de Sousa (pictured).
De Sousa will front the operator’s marketing push for the 2016 flat season, which got underway last week with the running of the Betway-sponsored Lincoln handicap at the weekend.
As well as being an ambassador for the brand, de Sousa will also provide Betway customers with a weekly blog on its Insider page, as well as daily updates during high-profile meetings such as Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood.
CrownBet launches DFS brand with Fox Sports
Australian online wagering operator CrownBet has made a move into the fantasy sports world after launching a DFS brand in conjunction with Fox Sports.
Draftstars, a joint venture between CrownBet and Fox Sports, has also become the official DFS partner of the AFL with exclusive access to match content not available to any other operator.
While AFL will be the first sport to be offered on the site, other local and global sports including the NRL and NBA will be added in the coming months, Fox Sports said on its website.