Launches and sign-ups extra 20 March 2015

Nordics-facing operator iGame has announced a partnership with NYX Gaming Group to launch NYX OGS this week.

The deal will see iGame release online casino titles from a number of the industry’s major suppliers including Nextgen Gaming, ELK studios, Amaya, iGaming2go and Thunderkick.

“iGame Group is a leading online gaming company in the Scandinavian market with focus on becoming a market leader in the European online gaming industry,” David Flynn, EVP business development for NYX Gaming Group, said.

“I’m very happy they have chosen to partner with NYX in order to help them reach their goal and am looking forward to working together with their team,” he added.

In other news, NYX Gaming has also this recently signed a distribution agreement with Casino Technology for its NYX Poker product.

Sports and betting data provider Betradar has this week expanded into the Italian online gambling market for the first time with the launch of its Live Channel Online in partnership with Microgame.

The live streaming solution currently offers 5,000 live events per year and allows operators to include live moving pictures to their betting offering with a 24/7 coverage.

Samuele Feci, head of sports betting at Microgame, hailed recent changes to the country’s online gambling legislation for the release.

“The new legislation in Italy with the launch of the so called Palinsesto Complementare is giving us the opportunity to offer bets on as many markets as possible,” he said.

“With the new Microgame Live Channel Online, we are now providing one of the first online channels in Italy that is entirely dedicated to live betting and strengthening our market position significantly,” Feci added.

London-based Inspired has signed an agreement with Adjarabet to launch virtual sports in the country for the first time.

The Georgia-licensed operator has gone live with seven of Inspired’s virtual sports including football and tennis which are broadcast every three minutes across six feeds.

“Inspired is the global market leader in Virtual Sports, offering the best content to more venues, driving more revenue for operator partners,” Steve Rogers, SVP for virtual sports at Inspired, said. “Inspired’s Virtuals are established and proven online – we look forward to a long term partnership with Adjarabet,” he added.

Bitcoin-only online sportsbook BetVIP.com has announced the firm has now expanded its product offering to include a bitcoin poker room.

BetVIP Poker accepts bitcoin transactions from players located in regulated markets and is available on both Mac and Windows.

“The rapid growth of our business over the past year stems from the fact that users want a trusted, licensed bitcoin betting and gaming environment,” BetVIP founder and CEO, Daniel Schwartzkopff, said.

“The launch of BetVIP Poker enables players to enjoy an even wider selection of market-leading cryptocurrency wagering products on both Mac and Windows platforms,” he added.

Endemol Games has this week announced a deal with Gauselmann Group subsidiary Blueprint Gaming which will see the two company’s partner to create new online and mobile slot games.

The new will be based on Endemol Shine UK’s brands and third party licenses and includes the forthcoming launch of a new slot game based on the Austin Powers film franchise.

“Blueprint Gaming is renowned for its ability to develop games with fantastic features and compelling game mechanics,” Owain Walbyoff, MD of Endemol Games, said.

“Combining our popular entertainment brands with Blueprint’s ability to deliver great games makes for a winning partnership,” he added.

Online gaming supplier Genesis Gaming has this week been awarded a Remote Gambling Software Licence from the British Gambling Commission which will enable the firm to continue supplying video slots to the UK market.

“We’re delighted to be officially licensed by the UKGC and are very much looking forward to continuing supplying our content to UK facing operators in the months and years to come,” James Watson, Genesis director of European sales, said.

“The UK market is of huge importance to us as it’s home to some very strong operators and the granting of this license will allow us to generate further growth and more partnerships,” he added.

Ladbrokes has launched personalised bonusing on its casino app as it looks to ramp up its CRM following strong growth in the mobile channels 2014.

Mobile staking grew by 110% during 2014 on the firm’s sportsbook app and it led Ladbrokes to take the decision to roll out its Mobenga front-end platform across all its digital products later this year.

Gaming will be a key area of focus for mobile growth in 2015 with the operator only completing its move to the Playtech platform on both desktop and mobile during the tail end of 2014.

Start-up software supplier FSB Technology claims to have become the first managed service provider to build a “fully-responsive sportsbook platform” and launch a native iOS mobile application.

The new iOS app uses the GoWager branding, which was initially used for its short-lived sportsbook deal with the Guardian newspaper.

The Guardian pulled out of the partnership due to adverse reader reaction to the media brand entering into the gambling sector, and the site is now run by FSB.

Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has added to its growing list of sports partnerships after signing a promotional agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Under the deal, DraftKings will offer players the chance to win VIP tickets to the WWE’s SummerSlam event through certain basketball contests.

DraftKings will also be the promotional partner for SummerSlam, which will include exposure on the WWE Network, pay-per-view and digital TV, plus social media.

Pala Interactive has added 27 new games to its PalaCasino.com site in New Jersey as it looks to claw back market share from the likes of Tropicana and Golden Nugget.

The new titles come from Pala’s content partners Amaya Gaming and IGT, and include games such as Pixies of the Forest, Da Vinci Diamonds, and Treasures of Troy.

To coincide with the launch of the new games, Pala has upgraded its website with an “improved user interface” to give players a “more streamlined experience”.