OpenBet makes TV play with new customer win
Platform supplier powers website for new female-focused televised betting service Win Cash Live
OpenBet has teamed up with new televised betting service Win Cash Live, which aims to capitalise on the growth of second screening in the UK by offering betting on “softer” markets such as X Factor.
Win Cash Live, which soft launched earlier this month, is broadcast on Sky UK channel 192 every night between 10pm and 1am and previews betting opportunities broadly aimed at the female audience.
OpenBet has supplied its off-the-shelf backend platform for WinCashLive.com, which enables customers to place bets and view a live stream of the channel outside of its Sky broadcasting hours, while OpenBet’s casino products will also be added shortly.
The concept and product has been developed by Ashley Faull, the man behind interactive television shopping channels bid.tv and price-drop tv, which were sold in 2005 for £194m.
And according to OpenBet chief executive Jeremy Thompson-Hill, it was the involvement of Faull which convinced the supplier to get on board with the innovative idea.
“Ashley’s got a track record in television – bid.tv was massively successful from day one,” Thompson-Hill told eGaming Review.
“And we were attracted to Win Cash Live by the fact Ashley believes there is a new market for softer betting, on things such X Factor, integrated into the second screen experience, appealing to a new type of customer. This is all part of the omni-channel strategy of the right product, at the right time, for the right person” he added.
Second screening is currently on this rise – with OpenBet citing research showing 77% of people use a laptop while watching television while 68% of viewers use mobile devices.
Faull said he was delighted to have signed with OpenBet and would now focus on Win Cash Live finding success in the UK market before branching out overseas.
Thompson-Hill said OpenBet had to fend-off competition from a number of operators in order to win the three-year contract with the operator attracted to Openbet’s front-end flexibility.
“We are not a managed service and we won’t win deals that want a managed service so we appeal to people who want flexibility and want to drive the business in a direction that they choose,” Thompson-Hill said.