Launches and sign-ups 3 April 2013
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (28 March to 3 April 2013).
Betfair confirms £5m Blue Square acquisition
London-listed operator completes buyout of loss-making sportsbook’s brand name and customer database.
Betfair has acquired certain assets of online sportsbook operator Blue Square Bet from Rank Group, including its brand and customer database, for £5m.
The deal will see Betfair acquire around 120,000 sports betting and gaming customers, while also obtaining all Blue Square brand assets. No technology or personnel are included in the deal.
A spokesman for Betfair confirmed the acquisition April 3, with a statement describing the deal as consistent with the operator’s “strategy of growing its sportsbook and gaming operations alongside its core exchange product”.
Blue Square, which was acquired by Rank Group in 2003, saw losses of £4.8m for the six months ended 31 December 2012 following an increase in marketing spend. Its sports betting revenues fell by 23.4% to £3.6m in the period and were overtaken by egaming income, which rose to £4m.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
Sportradar becomes majority shareholder of SportStat
Betradar parent company Sportradar has acquired a majority stake in data provider Sports Statistics and Information Systems (SportStat).
Sportstat supplies sports statistics with a particular focus on rugby union, rugby league, darts and snooker, and the stake acquisition allows Sportradar to expand its data offering before and during matches.
Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl said he was “very delighted” to welcome SportStat to the Sportradar family. “Having worked in partnership with the governing bodies of rugby union, darts and snooker for many years, SportStat are able to supply top class fast data live from the venue,” Koerl said.
Bally strikes deal with Washington tribe
Bally Technologies has signed a deal to provide the Colville Tribal Federal Corporation with a freeplay online gaming site including poker, slots and table games.
Colville owns three properties in Washington, the Mill Bay Casino, the Okanogan Bingo Casino and the Coulee Dam Casino, and becomes the first Washington tribe to make a move into online gambling.
Bally announced the agreement yesterday, as well as a deal with gaming supplier Ainsworth to incorporate online casino content into its iGaming Platform.
Perform sets up North America-facing media business
AIM-listed live streaming provider Perform has agreed a joint venture with American City Business Journals (ACBJ) to set up a sports media and advertising brand for North America consumers.
Perform’s ePlayer business in the US and Canadian markets, as well as the North America facing sites of its football website Goal.com, are included in the partnership, which will see the new company Perform Sporting News based in New York with sales and editorial teams in Charlotte, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Interpoker to move to Ongame network
The CryptoLogic-owned Interpoker brand has announced it will leave the SPIELO G2 Poker Network to move to Ongame.
The site will relaunch on the network, which was acquired by Amaya “CryptoLogic’s parent company “ for an initial consideration of 15m (£12.7m) in November last year on 24 April.
888 agrees live streaming deal with Caesars Interactive
London-listed operator 888 has announced a sponsorship agreement with Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), covering the US company’s World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) and World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific (WSOP APAC) tournaments.
The operator will provide live streaming coverage of both tournaments, as well as acting as the sponsor of television broadcasts of both series of events, via its 888poker.tv website.
PMU to sponsor European Football Poker Tour
Power 50 operator Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) has been announced as one of the lead sponsors of the European Football Poker Tour, a live event set to take place in France from 30 May.
The event will be held at the Aviation Club de France (ACF), with the venue also acting as a primary sponsor, while online qualifying tournaments will be held at PMU and ACF’s dot.fr sites on the PartyPoker.fr network.
Grosvenor Casino adds Crazy Money slot
Grosvenor Casino has added the Crazy Money slot game to its gaming site via a partnership with GameAccount Network (GAN).
The site becomes the second Rank Interactive brand to release Crazy Money after Mecca launched the game last month.
The game is the first in a series of releases which see GAN develop online versions of Incredible Technologies’ popular land-based slots. Later this month GAN will launch Girls Night Out, Guys Night Out, King of Bling and Neon City to the Mecca and Grosvenor Casino channels.
Alex Franklin, games product manager for Rank Interactive, said: “We have been working closely with GameAccount network over the last year and are delighted to have launched Incredible Technologies’ Crazy Money onto Grosvenor backed with a prize draw promotion.”
Dermot Smurfit, chief executive officer at GAN, added: “We have been delighted to see the strong player interest for Crazy Money on Mecca and look forward to this interest growing further with its release on Grosvenor Casino.”
Global Poker Index‘s Fantasy Poker Manager (FPM) app has been named as the official fantasy game of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). WSOP executive director Ty Stewart said the three-year agreement gives fans “A great tool on Facebook that lets them compete with other fans around the world.”
FPM was launched on Facebook in January, five months after former Chilipoker CEO Alex Dreyfus’ Zokay Entertainment business acquired the Global Poker Index, and the free-to-play app became the official fantasy game of the World Poker Tour the following month.
Scientific Games division SG Gaming will add its content to Intralot Italia‘s platform this year following the announcement of a new contract with the AAMS-licensed operator.
Alex Stephens, managing director of interactive for SG Gaming, described Italy as “a dynamic marketplace with potential for significant growth in internet gaming,” adding that “working with Intralot Italia marks another step forward in the expansion of our interactive business internationally
Microgaming has announced the launch of two new titles, video slot Piggy Fortunes and table game European Blackjack Redeal Gold. Both games are available on the software provider’s download, flash and QuickFire platforms.
Software provider Sheriff Gaming has launched 3D slot Piggy Bank, while also rolling out a craps offering with 3D graphics. Spokesman Eric Roskamp said the craps launch would “prove a great asset to our suite of table games as we channel all the excitement of a live casino into a compelling 3D game.”
International Poker Network site Fortune Poker has announced its closure after nine years of operation. Mentioning the “unfavourable” decision to close, the operator explained the reasons for closing in a statement. “With many changes in the online gaming industry, it has been a struggle to continue to support our players and affiliates to the fullest,” the statement said.
Merge Gaming skin PokerView has shut down after two years of operation and is the fourth skin on the US-facing network to close this year after RPM Poker, Hero Poker, Overbet and Iron Duke. PokerView players have been notified they must open an account with another Merge skin in order to access their balances.