Launches and sign-ups 21 May 2014
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (15 May to 21 May 2014)
GalaBingo.com to “shake-up” sports betting with Flutter
Bingo brand’s ‘Flutter’ betting product aims to open up sports betting to new audience in time for the World Cup
GalaBingo.com will be the first major bingo brand to enter the UK online sports betting market with the launch of a new Openbet-powered sportsbook.
‘Flutter’ is to be officially unveiled online this week and will feature a range of sports markets such as football and horseracing as it attempts to break down the barriers to the “macho and often impenetrable world of sports betting”.
Developed in cooperation with sister company Coral, Flutter will provide players the opportunity to bet on popular TV show contests, such as the X Factor and Coronation Street, while it will also incorporate betting tutorials in order to simplify process of placing a bet.
Flutter will appear as a separate tab on the GalaBingo.com website while eGaming Review also understands the product will be incorporated into the bingo brand’s mobile app during the next phase of development.
Betfred soft launches Australian business
Betfred soft launched its Australian mobile business yesterday, becoming the latest UK bookie to enter the competitive Australian sports wagering market.
The operator previously revealed plans to launch as a “mobile bookie” and after receiving its licence from the Northern Territory Gaming Commission, Betfred’s sports-only Australia-facing mobile site began to accept bets as of yesterday.
Speaking to eGR Luke Brill, managing director of Betfred Australia, said the launch followed 18 months of planning as the company had to meet more than 385 compliance requirements and establish offices in Sydney and Darwin.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
GVC makes Scandinavian play with joint-venture
GVC Holdings is making a play for the lucrative Scandinavian online gaming market after investing 3.5m for a 15% stake in Betit Holdings, a newly formed joint-venture with Malta-based Betit Securities.
Betit Holdings commenced operations in December 2013 and operates the casino brand Thrills.com and Superlenny.com, a Scandinavian-focused sportsbook. After the first five months of trading, average daily revenues had risen to excess of 40,000 with around 1,600 players per day.
The deal, which is subject to approval from the Lotteries & Gaming Association of Malta, also awards GVC with a call option to acquire the balance of the outstanding shares, however, this option can only be exercised between 1 July 2017 and 30 September 2017.
Casumo co-founder preps “next level” casino venture
The co-founder of acclaimed online casino site Casumo is launching his own venture, which he says will attract an entirely new audience into online casino and slots.
Georg Westin, who helped set up Casumo in 2012 having previously served as CTO at both Betsson and Betsafe, will launch CasinoSaga on desktop and as native applications for iPad and iPhone devices.
The game puts players at the centre of a fictional island where they can progress to different levels by playing real-money slot games and defeating ‘bosses’ in order to complete missions and gain rewards.
Full Tilt debuts real-money casino tab
Full Tilt’s keenly anticipated real-money casino has soft launched with 12 slots games as the operator’s diversification strategy continues to gather pace.
As part of a soft-launch, Full Tilt released the slots games via its B2B deal with supplier Leander Games with additional content from Net Entertainment to be added in the near future.
The games are currently limited to UK customers via the casino tab on the desktop product, however, they are expected to be rolled-out to further countries and channels over the coming months.
Winamax receives sports betting licence
Winamax has received regulatory approval from l’Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) to launch an online sportsbook.
The five-year sports betting licence will enable the Paris-based company to offer pari-mutuel and fixed-odds betting via the Winamax.fr domain.
The operator was unable to discuss its sportsbook plans further when contacted for comment but it has recently begun a recruitment drive for sports-related positions.
Camelot teases “revolutionary” new online platform
UK National Lottery operator Camelot is planning to roll-out a “revolutionary” new online platform as it looks to increase digital revenues following the successful overhaul of its Lotto product.
Camelot teased the new platform as it announced a boost in ticket sales to £6.7bn for the year ended 31 March 2014, the second-highest total since the National Lottery launched in 1994, although interactive and subscription sales fell 0.8% to £1.17bn.
Andy Duncan, managing director at Camelot, said that the new online platform, which is to be released across all devices imminently and developed in-house, would “revolutionise the way players interact with our games”.
888poker signs Luis Suarez as global ambassador
888poker announced Liverpool and Uruguay international footballer Luis Suarez has become its global brand ambassador in time for a big push during the FIFA World Cup.
The deal will see the Barclay’s Premier League’s top goal scorer for the 2013/2014 season lead various branding initiatives during the tournament, while 888poker players will also have the opportunity to compete against Suarez via online tournaments.
He was officially unveiled at a press conference in Barcelona and 888’s head of B2C Itai Pazner said the operator was pleased to sign up one of the world’s best footballers.
Egaming software provider EveryMatrix has announced the launch of six new sites during Q1 2014 including Dongcasino which targets customers from Asia living in Europe.
Dongcasino.com has optimised the supplier’s OddsMatrix sportsbook while other operators including Reel Crazy and Slotobank have launched used the GamMatrix gaming platform and casino content aggregator CasinoEngine.
“As the company grows at rapid pace, we too are growing our team across all our offices to ensure we fulfil our client expectations of us and our products,” EveryMatrix CEO, Ebbe Groes, said. “We work to deliver without compromising quality.”
“I am proud of our teams for all their efforts and can confidently say that their hard work reflects the success of our products,” he added. “We have a busy second quarter ahead of us and some very exciting launches to look forward to.”