Wednesday news round-up 26/02

This week’s news features new launches from Coral, Bonza and Betfair and results from Gaming Realms, Ladbrokes and Mr Green

Bonza Gaming, the real-money social gambling firm, has launched its first real-money slots app on iOS. Bonza Slots was unveiled on the Apple App Store yesterday for both iPhone and iPad devices and incorporates seamless synchronised gameplay with the Facebook version. Rick Brownlow, CEO of Bonza Gaming, told eGaming Review he expects mobile to become a sizeable part of the business going forward and that its social proposition will provide a differentiator from other products on the market. “Being the first Facebook RMG partner to have our app published in the Apple App store is huge for us,” he said.

Coral Interactive has announced the launch of Playtech’s HTML5-optimised Mobile Poker platform as the operator increases its focus on the recreational poker player. The software supplier’s Mobile Hub functionality is compatible with web browsers, native applications and all HTML5 ready devices and features a range of cash tables and speed games. “We’re delighted to have added poker to our mobile offering giving players the full gaming experience on the move,” Craig Perry, Coral’s head of poker, said. “As we strive to recruit more and more recreational poker players we see mobile as the ideal tool to engage them,” he added.

Online casino operator Mr Green said it would invest into new product channels with the firm’s founder Mikael Pawlo stating mobile was generating “serious momentum”, with further investment in the channel expected throughout 2014. Profit for the year reached SEK59.3m (£5.4m) after revenues soared by 52% year-on-year to SEK483.5m (£44.2m) on the back of increased marketing expenditure and moves into other regulated markets across Europe.

Gaming Realms posted a 64% sequential rise in its Q1 2014 revenues following an aggressive marketing strategy and strong mobile performance. Revenues increased from £870,000 during a provisional Q4 2013 to £1.43m during the three months ended 31 December, and mobile accounted for 50% of total gambling revenue in Q1. “I think 50% is probably higher than we expected but it’s a good balance for the business in terms of a split between mobile and desktop,” he said. “The question now is how we position ourselves as there’s a bigger user base in mobile because it’s less competitive,” Gaming Realms CEO Patrick Southon, said.

Betfair has become the first egaming operator to use mobile messaging app Snapchat to send customers exclusive promotional offers. The operator has set up an account on the photo sharing app, and users who follow the account will receive special offers on Premier League fixtures. “Snapchat is a relatively new, yet rapidly growing social media platform which I’m certain will play a huge role in the marketing mix of companies going forward,” Mark Ody, brand director at Betfair, said. “It has huge potential for us as a business.”

Strong growth in mobile since its relaunch on the Mobenga platform has seen as much as 60% of Ladbrokes’ digital gross win coming through mobile channels on “some weekends”, the firm’s CEO Richard Glynn told analysts this morning. Ladbrokes relaunched its mobile sportsbook on the Playtech-owned Mobenga platform in December and since then it has reported a 93% increase in amounts staked and 123% increase in sign-ups. Mobile actives has increased by 35% and the iOS app has already achieved 40% of the total downloads the firm recorded in the whole of 2013.