Launches and sign-ups 7 August 2013
Launches and sign-ups from the egaming industry in the last seven days (1 August to 7 August 2013)
888 to launch own brand US casino
New Jersey launch announced after record H1 results with bingo the only black spot
888 will launch its own-brand casino in New Jersey through a deal with Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), the group announced after revealing record H1 revenues of US$200m.
The Gibraltar-based firm will use one of Caesars’ four casino licences to launch 888-branded casino and poker products in New Jersey through its All American Poker Network joint-venture with Trump Taj Mahal owner Avenue Capital.
888 CEO Brian Mattingley said the company had held talks to work with several other Atlantic City casinos, however its “strong relationship” with Caesars Entertainment meant it had a ready-made operating partner. A similar deal was struck in Nevada between 888 and the Las Vegas-based Treasure Island casino earlier this year.
Prima signs new Italian egaming partnership
Microgaming-powered Prima Networks has signed a deal with Cogetech to launch a new casino channel on the Italian operator’s dot.it site.
The deal increases Prima’s presence in the Italian market after it forged deals to supply online slots to 32Bed, Betway and NeoMobile last December.
The 30 Microgaming slot titles are now live on Cogetech’s online gaming platform iZiplay through Casino Pacific, a dedicated channel offering Microgaming-only content. Cogetech also has an existing deal in place with Probability for dot.it mobile casino content.
Seven days in launches and sign-ups:
EveryMatrix signs iSoftBet deal
Software supplier EveryMatrix has reached an agreement with iSoftBet to incorporate its portfolio of mobile optimised slots games onto the EveryMatrix casino platform.
EveryMatrix CEO Ebbe Groes said the deal comes during a period when the firm has seen extensive demand for mobile casino content.
“We continue to get requests from our clients for new casino content and iSoftBet was high on our wish list and in particular provides strong mobile content, a big growth area for our clients,” he said.
Perform signs deal with Football DataCo
Sports data firm Perform Group has partnered with Football DataCo to become its official supplier of live data to the betting sector.
The three-year deal starts from the 2013/14 football season and will see eGaming Review sports data provider of the year Perform provide live data feeds to bookmakers from over 3,000 matches.
Opta, the official media data collection and distribution partner for DataCo, was recently acquired by Perform after the AIM-listed firm raised funds of £40m through a new share pricing. DataCo markets the official match data for the Barclays Premier League, the Football League and Scottish Professional Football League.
Colossus Bets launches ‘world’s biggest sports bet’
Pool betting website Colossus Bets has launched its online sportsbook offering, dubbed the ‘world’s biggest sports bet’, ahead of the 2013/14 English Premier League season.
The company’s flagship bet, dubbed ‘The Colossus’, requires users to place a £2 stake and select the correct score line in seven pre-selected football matches. Players successful in doing so will win a share of the total pool prize money, guaranteed to be at least £5m.
Successful players will also be entered into a bonus leg the following week, wherein they stand the chance to win a further £5m providing they can correctly predict the score in another match. If no player is successful the pool prize fund is rolled over into the next game, with Colossus expecting some prize funds to reach £100m.
GameHouse owner launches US real-money Facebook game
GameHouse owner RealNetworks has launched a real-money social casino game on Facebook targeting the US market through a sweepstakes model.
The GameHouse Casino Plus offers monthly cash sweepstakes prizes to Facebook users in 31 states and Washington DC, while game users who live outside of these territories can also enter a monthly virtual coins sweepstakes.
The free-to-play game enables users to win golden tickets that enter them into a monthly $100,000 real-money draw, with players not required to purchase coins to enter.
Olympic-Online re-launches as Olybet
Eastern European egaming operator Olympic Entertainment Group (OEG) has re-launched its online sportsbetting offering in Estonia and Latvia under its Olybet brand.
The re-launch comes as part of a wider unification of the company’s online services, bringing the company’s sports betting, online casino and online poker offerings and will see OEG launch a network of sports bars in Estonia and Latvia.
OEG signed a multi-year agreement with Isle of Man-based Iforium to handle the re-launch as well as the rebranding process which saw Olympic-Online become Olybet.
EuroSlots first to launch Yggdrasil RNG games
Swedish online operator Cherry has become the first company to launch RNG lottery games developed by Yggdrasil Gaming.
Ten games have been launched on Cherry’s EuroSlots online casino brand, including a selection of video scratch and 3D video keno products, following a deal signed in February.
Malta-based Yggdrasil Gaming is a new venture founded by former Net Entertainment CEO Fredrik Elmqvist. It aims to challenging the lottery market with its portfolio of online RNG games.
TotelFootball partners with OpenBet
TotelFootball’s fantasy sports pools betting game will be integrated into OpenBet’s gaming platform, following a deal signed between the two companies.
The deal, which begins in time for the start of the 2013/14 football season, sees TotelFootball’s white-label product made available to all of the London-based gaming software supplier’s operator clients.
TotelFootball allows players to combine fantasy football management with sports betting by wagering on the performance of their line-ups from top European competitions, including the Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
OlyBet goes live with Microgaming and MPN
Eastern European operator OlyBet has launched its Microgaming-powered online casino and gone live with its poker product on the MPN following the company’s extensive rebrand.
OlyBet, formerly branded Olympic-Online, signed a deal to launch the Microgaming-powered Quickfire online casino as well as migrating its poker product to the MPN earlier this year.
OlyBet head Kaido Ulejev said the company was impressed with the continual investment in and development of the MPN’s poker offering and praised the development work at Quickfire.
Betfred has signed a deal with BT Sport that will see all three BT Sport channels televised in Betfred’s 1,370 stores across the UK. Betfred becomes BT’s first commercial partner in the gaming sector, and will gain access to BT Sport 1 BT Sport 2 and ESPN for the next three years.
Online poker room Cake Poker has changed its name to Win Cake as part of a rebrand for the site on the Revolution Poker Network. Online casino offerings have been expanded to include browser-based games.
English Premier League club Norwich City has signed a deal with SBOBet, which will see the online bookmaker become Norwich’s official Asian betting partner. In a similar agreement to the bookmaker’s partnership with Swansea City, SBOBet will support the club’s charity work through its community sports foundation.