Launches and sign-ups 31 May 2017
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (25 May 2017 to 31 May 2017)
Jens Bader and Israel Rosenthal vow to ‘break the payments monopoly’
Former paysafecard CCO Bader says payments start-up MuchBetter will charge operators on net deposits while “eliminating fraud and abuse”
Egaming payments specialist Jens Bader is vowing to “break the monopoly” in digital wallets after teaming up with former PokerStars COO Israel Rosenthal and other senior leaders from the gaming and financial industries to develop a new payments concept.
Speaking to EGR Intel, the former Secure Trading and paysafecard CCO said his new venture, MuchBetter, will offer operators greater transparency, protection from fraud, and a commercial model “aligned with the interests of the industry and customers”.
“It’s a perfect storm,” Bader said. “The industry has been requesting a new wallet to break the monopoly in the market, and this is it – a social money, peer-to-peer concept.”
MuchBetter, co-founded by Bader and Rosenthal along with former Rational Group director of payments Prasannaa Muralidharan and WorldPay Solution Architect Shanmuhanathan Thiagaraja, will work on a monthly net deposit commission structure, rather than total deposits volume.
Stride Gaming enters B2B market with Aspers partnership
Stride Gaming is launching a new B2B division, with bricks and mortar casino Aspers Group becoming its first customer ahead of a planned Q4 online launch.
Stride Together will see the soft gaming operator license its proprietary platform out to gaming operators, media partners and retailers in the UK and globally to help businesses with their omni-channel needs.
The operator said it was the board’s intention to grow the company into a high margin business that would provide Stride not only with a B2B vertical, but also with a springboard to penetrate new and non-bingo verticals both within UK markets and overseas territories.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Sky Bet prepares for summer lull with Bonus Builder launch
Sky Betting & Gaming (SB&G) has launched a ‘Bonus Builder’ feature via its Sky Bet Club as the operator looks to incentivise customers to continue to wager throughout the relatively quiet summer of sport.
Bonus Builder went live on Monday (29 May) and will enable customers to earn an additional weekly bonus on top of the £5 free bet available via the Sky Bet Club when a customer stakes £25.
The offer will run for nine weeks with a £10 bonus on offer in week one and £2.50 each week thereafter, meaning punters can earn up to a total of £30. All Bonus Builder free bets will be credited to qualifying accounts on Monday 31 July, ahead of the start of the new football season.
Fortuna sells off Czech instant lottery business
Fortuna has sold its 98.4% stake in its Czech-facing instant lottery business, Fortuna sázky a.s, for an undisclosed sum.
The firm announced last week it had signed and completed the sale to Czech lottery operator Sazka, a.s, which also bought the remaining 1.6% of the business from E-invest.
Sazka CEO Robert Chvátal said the instant lottery and scratchcard business was growing at double-digit pace in the Czech Republic and around Europe, and represented an attractive growth opportunity.
Catena Media acquires online casino affiliate Newcasinos.com
Catena Media has acquired online casino affiliate Newcasinos.com in a deal worth up to €11.9m as the Malta-based company continues its aggressive M&A strategy.
The acquisition is scheduled to take place no later than 15 July and will see Catena Media pay an upfront payment of €7.7m, in addition to a maximum earn-out of €4.3m based on revenue performance.
Newcasinos.com, which was launched in 2015, specialises in reviewing and rating new online casinos and focuses primarily on the UK market, as well as Sweden and Norway.
RakeTech strengthens Danish presence with a trio of acquisitions
RakeTech Group has strengthened its position in Denmark’s egaming affiliate market after completing a trio of acquisitions, including poker community Pokernet.dk.
The affiliate marketing firm, which did not disclose the price of the deal, also bought the affiliate sites Odds.dk and Casinoguide.dk following the recent acquisitions of Denmark-facing BetXpert.com and TVsporten.dk.
The acquisition of Odds.dk also includes its partner sites Blackjack.dk, Bonusodds.dk, Casinoguide.dk, Livescore.dk, Spilforslag.eu and Sportbonus.net.