Launches and sign-ups 9 January 2013
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (3 January to 9 January).
Exclusive: Gamesys acquires Virgin Games
Gamesys acquires Virgin Games for undisclosed sum and signs long-term deal to develop real money and social gambing propositions globally under Virgin brand.
Gamesys has acquired Virgin Games for an undisclosed sum and signed a long-term deal to develop real money and social gaming propositions globally under the Virgin brand, eGaming Review can exclusively reveal.
Founded in 2004 Virgin Games was 100% owned by the Richard Branson fronted Virgin Group primarily acting as a best of breed casino content portal with agreements signed with a number of suppliers including Playtech and Microgaming and hosting close to 300 games. It also operates bingo and poker via Virtue Fusion and Spielo G2’s International poker network. More recently it launched both mobile and tablet offerings in December of last year.
eGR understands Virgin Games has been seeking investment for a number of months in a bid to expand the business across Europe with its relatively small budget not able to withstand the long-term costs of entering and successfully growing in newly regulated markets as well as competing with rival operators.
The company was advised by Oakvale Capital founded and run by Daniel Burns, also an adviser to 888. The deal marks Oakvale’s second deal since it was set up a year ago following the sale of Marwyn Management Partners’ gaming arm to Gaulselmann Group’s Merkur Casino for £76m in October.
Ladbrokes confirms Betdaq discussions
Ladbrokes is in discussions to acquire its trading and pricing solutions provider Betdaq, the operator has confirmed.
The admission comes almost exactly a year after it was first announced that the companies were in talks over a supplier deal designed to bolster the Ladbrokes’ underperforming online division. This was followed by reports in UK newspaper The Times, which claimed that Lads had opened talks over a £50m acquisition of the supplier” shortly after the dismissal of director of product Richard Ames “ in July last year, though the paper now reports that this figure has dropped to around £30m.
Betdaq, owned by Celtic Football Club majority shareholder Dermot Desmond who holds a 2% stake in Lads, was launched in 2000, and operates a B2B service alongside its B2C product. The supplier, which currently has a share of less than 10% of the exchange betting market, is reported to be currently operating at a loss.
Betfair to quit Ongame for iPoker
Playtech has announced that Betfair has launched a skin on the solutions provider’s iPoker network, bringing to an end the exchange betting operator’s agreement with the Amaya owned Ongame.
The launch of a new poker offering on iPoker was first announced by Betfair in September last year, though at the time it was described as “enabling [the company] to offer ring-fenced poker products in markets that require them” such as Spain and Italy, suggesting that the operator could maintain its skin on the Ongame network.
However, today’s announcement confirms that the Ongame room will be shut down in July this year, with players migrated to the iPoker skin. Until then, dot.com players will have a choice between the two rooms.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Pokerstrategy and bwin.party end relationship
Power Affiliate Pokerstrategy.com has ended its partnership with bwin.party, an agreement which had covered the bwin, PartyPoker and WPT Poker brands.
The affiliate has announced its intention to give frequent player points (‘StrategyPoints’) to those players already signed up to the affected poker rooms, however as of last Friday it permitted no new sign-ups.
Bwin.party completed the consolidation of players from all its brands last month, four months after announcing it would do so and more than a year-and-a-half after the company was formed by the merger between bwin and PartyGaming, however there is no indication that this liquidity merger has directly affected the latest development.
Betfred launches mobile casino with Playtech
Gibraltar-licensed operator Betfred has gone live with its Playtech-powered mobile casino offering, ahead of a planned broader mobile launch with the London-listed software provider.
It is available on iPhone, iPad or Android devices, and in addition to slots and table games it offers branded scratchcards including Rocky and Iron Man 2.
Betfred is expected to follow the mobile casino launch with live dealer and bingo games, and Betfred.com managing director Chris Sheffield said: “We are confident that with Playtech’s proven products combined with our strong focus on the platform, we will be able to generate significant traffic to mobile from both existing and new players .”
BetVictor launches iPhone app
BetVictor has launched of its native iPhone app following 15 months of development and testing.
The app, which was built by the operator’s in-house team of iOS developers, features an integrated casino product, real-time prices, and a live betting section, alongside live streaming of UK and international racing and an improved betting slip.
While an iPad-optimised variant is yet to be released, users can access the app on the device, and a native application for the tablet is to be released in the first three months of the year.
Tipp24 buys stake in GeoSweep developer Roboreus
German operator Tipp24 has invested £10m to acquire a 25.7% stake in Roboreus, the UK-based developer of the GeoSweep online location-based lottery game.
UK-licensed Roboreus’ subsidiary GeoSweep Limited runs the game, which is available in the UK and licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, and parts of Canada via a cooperation agreement with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.
The deal could rise to £11.9m depending on GeoSweep’s financial performance and Tipp24 CEO Dr Hans Cornehl has also been appointed a non-executive director of Roboreus.
Bodog88 in ONEworks-powered mobile launch
Philippines-based Bodog brand licensee Bodog88 has launched its mobile sportsbook offering for smartphone and WAP formats.
Powered by ONEworks, the offering is hoped to make the most of the continued use of WAP in Asia, where it accounts for 70% of bets placed despite being considered by some in Europe and North America to be outdated.
Betfair in Aussie Millions deal
London-listed operator Betfair has been named as the presenting partner for the Aussie Millions, the annual live poker series held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
The event, which begins on the 17th of this month had been sponsored by Full Tilt Poker as recently as 2011 before the operator was forced to suspend operations following the Black Friday indictments, however thenow PokerStars-owned brand has not returned as the main sponsor.
Microgaming to launch horseracing slot tournament game
Microgaming has announced the addition of a new online slot tournament game to its portfolio of multiplayer titles.
Horseracing-themed Sure Win, a five reel, 25 line video slot, will be available on Microgaming’s Viper platform on 9 January and will feature a three-day Survivor tournament, giving ten winners the chance to share a $3,000 prize pool.
Microgaming has also launched two new titles for its Microgaming Go offering, including the tablet-optimised European Roulette Gold. Head of product channels Neil Whyte said: “We are extremely excited to be adding European Roulette Gold to our mobile offering as it was designed and developed explicitly with the tablet user in mind.”
Betfred subsidiary Totepool has agreed a deal with Racecourse Media Group to provide on-site betting at more than 30 of the company’s racetracks until 2018.