News in brief: 10 bidders for Tote; Ongame; Betsson; Visionary iGaming
The UK government has received 10 bids for the Tote; Ongame adds the sponsor of the Spanish Poker Championship to its network.
The UK government has received 10 bids for the Tote, according to reports. As eGaming Review indicated earlier this week, Sportech, Gala Coral and Betfred are among the confirmed bidders, while former Ladbrokes chief executive Chris Bell is also involved in a bid for the state-owned bookmaker. Lazard Ltd, the company running the sale for the government, is likely to draw up a shortlist for the sale by the end of this month.
Ongame has added EuroSuperPoker to its international network, in a move which the provider hopes will increase its presence in the Spanish market. The site sponsors the Spanish Poker Championship, and Ongame head Martin Lerby hopes that this “ as well as EuroSuperPoker’s existing Spanish player pool “ will help his company gain “a firm foothold” in the country. He describes it as a “strategic move” for Ongame to strengthen its liquidity in Spain ahead of an anticipated regulation of online gaming. EuroSuperPoker was previously on the iPoker network.
Betsson Business Solutions has appointed David Bjork as its new managing director, taking over from Jonas Konstantinov. Bjork, who has previously worked as a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte, started in the job this week, and has 14 years of business development and management experience. Betsson Malta CEO Magnus Silfverberg said he believes Bjork “will bring valuable business development experience and drive to our commitment to offer our world-class gaming platform to partners.”
Leading live dealer provider Visionary iGaming today announced plans to expand its live casino studio and support operations. The company, which boasts 80 full-time dealers, has significantly increased its live casino studio space with the completion of a new custom-built facility. “Players love our new look and we feel we are setting the new standard in our industry,” said CEO Martin Reiner.
CTXM‘s online casino has been launched on seven Cake sites, strengthening the partnership between the software provider and the Curacao-based poker network. Poker4Green and Unleashed Poker are among the Cake skins offering casinos services, which can either be downloaded or accessed through the existing poker client.
Ultimate Bet has announced the newest addition to its stable of sponsored poker players, just days after the high-profile departures of Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. Californian poker pro Prahlad Friedman, who lost millions of dollars in the site’s infamous superuser scandal, has surprised many among the poker community with his decision to take the first sponsorship deal of his career. Friedman has previously taken a strong position against ‘selling out’ through sponsorship, but indicated a change of heart on the matter last month in messages sent to his followers on Twitter.
Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) is taking steps to increase customer sign-ups by selecting Publicis Modem to develop its online marketing strategy. The organisation, which leads the way in the horse-racing marketin France, faces stiff competition from the likes of Unibet and France-Pari in other ventures such as poker and sports betting. It is hoped that Publicis Modem will help PMU, which also intends to move into the Belgian market, todevelop a strong and loyal customer base.
In the light of the mass bird deaths in America, Paddy Power has begun taking bets on which country will be the next to fall foul of what it describes as an ‘aflockalypse.’ The UK has emerged as an early 2/1 favourite, with Ireland close behind at 4/1.