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BRAND LONGEVITY: Retail music shop Our Price has plans on making a hit in betting BETTING NEWS 12

PLATFORM FOR SUCCESS: How the industry is approaching the growing number of tablet customers ESSENTIAL GUIDE 16

CLICKETY CLICK: Will bingo hall sell-off pave the way for a Coral Racing flotation? BUSINESS 34

£5.20 (€8.30) • ISSUE:110 • NOVEMBER 2013 • www.betting-business.co.uk

William Hill to retain Aussie brands AUSTRALIA

illiam Hill will not dispense with its Australian bookmaking brands Sportingbet and Centrebet brands after all, despite indicating that it would replace them with the William Hill name. William Hill Australia chief executive Michael Sullivan told the Australian Financial Review: “We have been having a lot of discussion about the brands. And what we have found is that after six months the owners have probably found that the brands are probably stronger in Australia than they thought. So it’s business as usual at the moment.” The decision will mean that William Hill is to operate three brands in the country, including the recently acquired Tom Waterhouse, with Sportingbet’s focus on racing and high rollers while Centrebet will have a greater focus on sports and the digital channel. William Hill has arrested the rate of decline in Sportingbet first time deposits, which was 18 per cent lower for Q3 versus the prior year and 41 per cent lower from when William Hill first took control of the business. Including the tomwaterhouse.com brand, total first time deposits for the period were 10 per cent ahead of the comparable period on a pro forma basis. The bookmaker is not taking such a multi-brand approach in Spain, however, where it plans to phase out the miapuesta name it eventually acquired during the Sportingbet buyout. William Hill CEO Ralph Topping explained: “We exercised our call option over the Spanish miapuesta brand during the quarter and are integrating the existing miapuesta customer base into the William Hill brand in that market. There will be additional exceptional costs of c£2m incurred as a result of this option exercise and its associated integration.” The bookmaker estimates that it will now control around 23 per cent of Spain’s total gambling market.

ABB provides code comfort to jittery government The stake limit on B2 gaming machines is to remain at £100, but the ABB has seen the writing on the wall and responded with greater player protection measures. REGULATION

he betting industry has introduced a new Code for Responsible Gambling and Player Protection in order to minimise the causes of problem gambling in betting shops. Led by trade body the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB), the code introduces measures that empower the customer by pro-

viding more feedback about their gaming behaviour, specifically on gaming machines. The new code was launched two weeks before the government announced that it would not be making any changes to the B2/B3 stake and prize regimes, despite some vocal calls for a reduction in stake from some anti-machine campaigners. B2 games will remain with a £100/£500 maximum stake/prize, while B3 games will stay on £2/£500. In contrast, Category C games (mainly found in pubs and amusement arcades) will see an increase in jackpot from £75 to £100. While the stakes and prize regimes are not planned for review until 2016, the government was very clear that ‘there remains a serious case to answer in relation to the potential harm caused by category B2 gaming machines and we consider their future to be unresolved’. The ABB commented: “The betting industry is firmly committed to responsible gambling and finding ways to minimise

www.microgaming.co.uk/mobile

gambling related harm. As we have always said, one problem gambler is one too many. “The ABB’s new code for Responsible Gambling and Player Protection introduces several new precautionary measures aimed at harm minimisation on gaming machines in particular. It will ensure individuals are provided with the necessary information and the self-help tools they need to make an informed choice about their gambling.” The new code was launched last month and bookmakers have until March next year to implement it. For the first time, machine players will be able to set their own monetary and time limits. When they reach either of those limits, then game play will be suspended for thirty seconds, and a message will pop up on the screen asking them if they want to stop playing. During that thirty second break, responsible gambling messages will appear on screen and staff behind the counter will

also be alerted to the fact a player has reached their chosen limit. On top of that, all customers will receive mandatory reminders on screen when they have been playing for 30 minutes or lost £250, giving the player the opportunity to decide whether they want to continue or not. Again, staff behind the counter will be alerted that someone has reached those mandatory limits. The Code has been endorsed by gambling experts Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University’s International Gaming Research Unit. He commented: “The player protection and harm minimisation measures proposed go further than anything else emanating from the UK gambling sector in the past. Some of the measures proposed are innovative and potentially world-leading and I am delighted that the ABB has taken such a proactive stance in their efforts to promote responsible gambling and minimise problem gambling.”

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News Exchange plans distract from Ladbrokes’ digital woes Ladbrokes will be hoping the extensive plans it has for its digital division come to fruition quickly after another profit warning. FINANCIALS

adbrokes is gearing up for the launch of its own branded betting exchange as it looks to revitalise a struggling business. The firm has launched an impressive teaser campaign for the Ladbrokes Exchange featuring ants putting together a jigsaw and has created a new Twitter marketing account @ladexchange with an eye on launching the new service next year. It is thought that the new exchange will be a skin of the Betdaq betting exchange that it bought earlier this year, but will provide the brand with much needed differentiation from the rest of the market while simultaneously boosting liquidity on the exchange platform. In its most recent interim management statement, the bookmaker has issued a profit warning on its digital business and experienced a downturn in its retail operations, although that has since stabilised. The firm said that it has yet to see discernible improvements in its digital division as it continues to ‘work through a significant process of integration’. As a result the Board believes that 2013 operating profit for the Digital division will be below current market expectations of £27.5m and within a range of £10m-£14m. Chief executive Richard Glynn explained: “The period since the end of H1 2013 has been challenging. Following a difficult trading period for the sector in July, we have seen footfall normalise in our UK Retail business, an improvement in OTC amounts staked and reduced volatility in machines. Our Digital earnings have been disappointing reflecting a lack of competitiveness in sportsbook, lower margins than planned and a greater disruptive impact than expected from the transition necessary to grow Digital for the long term. “We remain focused on the operational changes required to deliver momentum in the retail business and to achieve a fully integrated digital platform. These are on track to be completed between now and the early part of 2014. We remain confident that the strong foundations we are putting in place will drive performance during 2014 and beyond. “ Ladbrokes chairman Peter Erskine added: “Ladbrokes continues on its journey to modernise the business and make it fit for purpose in the rapidly evolving betting and gaming sector. While we are disappointed that the Digital results are still not where we anticipated they would be, the Board believes that the strategy is the right one and that the actions taken to date, along with those planned for the coming months, will drive the long term success of the business.” Similarly, rival William Hill also saw a slowdown in trading for its retail and sportsbook business. CEO Ralph Topping commented: “During this quarter, results were not as favourable as in the comparable period, with outcomes - particularly in football - going the punters’ way. Consequently, gross win margins are below the prior year in both major chan-

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

nels, and below normalised expectations in Sportsbook. It is of course important in our business to look through the impact of shortterm results on trading. Additionally, we saw a disappointing Retail performance in July. However, football wagering in Retail has grown in Q3 and the rollout of our new Eclipse gaming machine has begun.” Overall online net revenue was 2 per cent lower in the period but remains up 11 per cent year-to-date. Sportsbook gross win margin was way down at 6.3 per cent compared to 7.8 per cent in Q3 2012 with sportsbook net revenue 1 per cent lower. Gaming net revenue was down 3 per cent for the quarter which saw a c£2.5m loss to a customer during August. Excluding this, underlying gaming net revenue was up 5 per cent. Casino net revenue was down 2 per cent with bingo and poker falling 6 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively. Online operating costs were 12 per cent higher and marketing costs represented 26 per cent of William Hill Online’s total net revenue. As a whole operating profit was down 28 per cent against Q3 2012 and is up 1 per cent year-to-date. ANALYSIS A profit warning for the digital side of the business is the last thing Richard Glynn would have needed, especially considering he got the Ladbrokes role on the back of his expertise in online retailing. Simon Davies, analyst at Canaccord Genuity, said: “This is clearly another deeply disappointing update from Ladbrokes, putting considerable pressure on the CEO, Richard Glynn.” The new partnership with Playtech, while struggling to get up to speed, promises great things for the company’s online fortunes, but it seems to be touch and go whether the current management will be around to experience such highs.

PETER ERSKINE HAS ESSENTIALLY GIVEN RICHARD GLYNN A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Rank hit by d Mecca perfor BINGO

A crowded market with few points of differentiation means that there is little room for manoeuvre in online bingo. So says the Rank Group which has concerns that the sector is failing to deliver a broader range of entertainment.

ank Group chairman and chief executive Ian Burke has claimed that online bingo in the UK is stagnant and that all the operators in the sector are too samey. Burke made the comments during Rank’s interim management statement last month, which laid bare a poor performance from its Mecca Bingo brand in both retail and online. Burke commented: “I don’t think the UK digital bingo market is currently seeing any growth and the big challenge is to develop the experience for customers through product, service and the overall look and feel of the website.” Burke mentioned that there was very little differentiation in the channel and that he hoped to make Mecca

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Betfair makes US marketing push Betting exchange Betfair is so confident that it will receive a licence in the US state of New Jersey that it is already running an advertising campaign in the state. The LetsPlayNJ.com allows would-be customers to sign up for the chance to win a VIP trip for two to either London or Hawaii, including $1,000 spending money, in order to generate a potential customer database for the planned Betfair online casino. Legal online gaming isn’t anticipated until 26 November, although Betfair and several other would-be operators are still waiting to be licensed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

Operators told to review their money laundering measures Gala Coral has shared its recent problems regarding money laundering with the industry in the hope that bookmakers can learn from its mistakes. REGULATION

he Gambling Commission has urged the betting industry to learn from the mistakes made by Gala Coral on the issue of money laundering. The national bookmaker was found to have a potential weaknesses in anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls and that commercial interests may have overridden the regulatory need to report any suspicious activity. The issue surrounds an individual (currently remanded in custody awaiting sentencing for serious offences) who was betting large amounts over an extended period across a number of gambling outlets. Despite earning Coral an estimated £90,000, little or no challenge was made by the operator to the individual, although the Commission said that there were ‘extensive and realistic opportunities to do so’. The Commission has surmised that if the operator had applied the rigour of its commercial management systems to the regulatory risks involved, the shortcomings may not have arisen in the first place. “In the event, the operator did not ask the right questions at the right time, even though the reasons to do so were, when the circumstances and information available at the time were reviewed, present.” The operator does acknowledge that commercial and business information could and should have been considered for antimoney laundering and

by decline in rformance stand out from the crowd in the future: “In the short term it’s going to be competitive from the point of view of the marketing spend needed to even preserve the revenues we’ve got, particularly with a number of new entrants coming into this space. The challenge we’re addressing is how to create more points of differentiation, which are sustainable and reflect our overall brand strength, to allow us to grow in the medium term and take the hit from the point of consumption tax.” The casino and bingo operator revealed a 7 per cent decline in like-for-like revenues for the 15 weeks to 13 October 2013 which it attributed to the ‘exceptionally hot’ weather in July adversely affecting cus-

tomer visits across venues, a lower casino win margin in London and a disappointing performance in Mecca’s venues and digital channel. However, Rank’s recently acquired casinos have performed well boosting group revenues by 15 per cent. The firm said: “As a result of the disappointing start to the year management is taking both revenue improvement and cost reduction actions to mitigate the impact of the revenue decline, particularly in the Mecca brand. The impact of these actions is expected to commence in the second half of the financial year.” Digital revenue for the Grosvenor brand continued to grow in the 15-week period, up 19 per cent, however, the rate of growth

has slowed due to the competitive environment. For the Mecca Bingo brand, digital revenues in the 15week period fell by 3 per cent, despite an increase in digital spend per visit. The firm said that the increasingly competitive digital bingo market had adversely impacted the effectiveness of the company’s marketing and customer acquisition campaigns. Additionally, following the disposal of Blue Square Bet to Betfair, the allocation of shared service costs to Mecca’s digital channel has increased. The firm added: “A review of the shared service costs for both digital channels is underway and we anticipate reductions during the second half of the financial year.”

social responsibility purposes when transacting with the customer, indeed, the firm submitted a Suspicious Activity Report on the individual, but did little else. The bookmaker said it is taking urgent steps to remedy the shortcomings. Matthew Hill, director regulatory risk and analysis at the Gambling Commission, said: “These events demonstrate the need for Boards, however committed, to ensure their controls on money laundering and problem gambling are effective on the ground. These cases, and others like them, suggest that there are industry-wide vulnerabilities that need to be tackled as a priority. The Commission is grateful for the assistance of Durham constabulary and the full cooperation of Coral Racing Limited in this case.” The Commission has highlighted the fact that there were no practical systems in place to effectively monitor and reconcile gaming machine spend and said that while it recognises the challenges posed for the gambling industry in this area, it is a theme that has emerged from other recent cases. The Commission now intends to encourage operators and the industry more widely to make progress in addressing it. Despite these regulatory failings, the Commission has commended Corals for being open and candid and its serious efforts to address the vulnerabilities that have been identified within their organisation.

The bookmaker has also been keen to highlight these issues to the wider industry. As a result the Commission does not intend to take further formal regulatory action. The bookmaker is not getting off scot free though. The Commission revealed: “The operator’s acknowledgment that had the improvements they are now implementing been in place previously, it is likely they would not have made financial gain from the individual’s custom. The operator plans to put beyond doubt any question that they have gained financially from the weaknesses that have been exposed by these events. The operator has already made a payment of £52,106.76 to the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) and a payment proportionate to defray the Commission’s costs of £35,000. The payment is in addition to any other contribution to RGT they have made or plan to make, and the operator has agreed with the Trust that the contributions are to be considered as a supplement to the existing fundraising targets.” It is not just Coral which has experienced weaknesses in its anti-money laundering procedures in this case, as the Aspers casino group has also been cited for similar reasons surrounded a now convicted individual who had spent over £1m across a series of gambling establishments despite appearing to only have a social security cheque as income.

GALA CORAL HAS MADE DONATIONS TO THE RGT AND THE GAMBLING COMMISSION

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iGaming Probability takes ‘decisive steps’ over B2C offer

Theft charges for former Bodog employees CRIME

While brands are falling over themselves to get a Probability white label, it seems the firm believes it needs to concentrate on its own operation a little more. MOBILE

obile gaming operator Probability is revamping its approach to the consumer gaming market after a 9 per cent drop in revenues between Q3 and Q2. While stakes from customers were up 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter, margins were impacted by a spate of big wins, particularly in September. Although revenues from feature phone customers continued to decline, with gross gaming revenue down 20 per cent quarter on quarter, this was predicted throughout the period as more people adopt smartphone technology. The cost of acquisition (CPA) of new directly acquired customers was highly volatile during the first six weeks of this period as well, continuing a pattern seen in the first quarter of the current financial year. This caused Probability to reduce planned marketing spend as a result as it maintains very tight discipline over marketing investment based upon the predicted return of each campaign. Probability has taken ‘decisive steps’ to address the challenges which the B2C business has continued to experience, one of which is the recruitment of the former head of William Hill Mobile Michael Byrne - to the newly

created position of chief commercial officer. Byrne has held a number of senior positions in the mobile gambling industry since 2007. He left William Hill Online in 2012 to set up Bet & Move Ltd, a mobile casino based on the Probability mobile platform. The management of Bet & Move is being transferred to Byrne’s business partners as part of his transition to his new role with Probability. Byrne’s primary responsibility will be for direct-toconsumer and white label revenues in the company’s core UK market. He will take over responsibility for all the company’s direct to consumer marketing and retention for its own brand and white label customers in the UK, as well as developing its affiliate network. He will also oversee the customer operations, risk management and social responsibility policies alongside his fellow directors in Gibraltar. Charles Cohen, CEO of Probability plc, said: “We are delighted to welcome Michael to Probability. He comes to us with an unrivalled depth of knowledge and expertise in mobile gaming. He has proven his expertise in both acquisition and customer retention, as well as demonstrating a real feeling for the customer and the product. Following the significant investment we

obert Gustafsson, former managing director of Bodog’s Asian-facing operation Bodog88.com, is facing charges of ‘qualified theft’ by the Philippines Department of Justice and potentially more as his business dealings while at the company are investigated. Gustafsson has been charged along with other Bodog employees Sylvia De Guzman and Sherwin Quiambao, with authorities suggesting that other charges are in the pipeline. This particular charge centres on a payment authorised by the trio in April 2012 to Jose Luis J. Yulo for US$160,338 under the explanation ‘Legal Fee’. Yulo is not a member of the Philippines Bar and the services (of which there are no record) were not approved by the board of directors. The audit management company suggested that the liability was not a corporate one, but a personal one. A Bodog spokesperson told CalvynAyre.com: “We have forensic accountants going through the records now so I can’t give a final total but I can say, over the course of the couple of years while Gustafsson was in charge, it’s the sort of amount that would have very serious criminal ramifications. Obviously, in the scheme of a business the size of Bodog its not damaging but it is always a concern when people in a position of authority veer into criminal embezzlement.” The spokesperson added: “It’s important to remember that we weren’t the only company targeted by this group but because of the strength of the Bodog’s brand, we felt it was important to get this out into the light. Rumours of internal improprieties can do more long-term damage to a brand than the actual improprieties themselves. That’s why it’s important that we are addressing this now and we are prosecuting all those involved to the fullest extent of the law.”

CHARLES COHEN, CEO OF PROBABILITY PLC

have made in our product and platform over the past few years, it’s great to have him here to take it out on the open road.” Byrne added: “I have long been impressed with the Probability offering, starting from my days with William Hill when we signed them up as a content provider. This new role is a fantastic opportunity to turn a world class mobile platform into a true market leader in both B2C and B2B.” The B2B side of the business continues to increase as a share of company revenues and the growth this business unit remains the strategic focus for the medium term. Revenues from B2B operations, including UK white label managed services as well as UK and Italian facing Platform services, were 47 per cent higher than the preceding quarter. The launch of a new white label business in Italy along with new product rollouts to existing customers should support faster revenue growth from this division in the coming six months.

ANALYSIS As head of mobile for William Hill Online from 2010 to 2012, Michael Byrne directed all aspects of the William Hill mobile offering for both gaming and sportsbook. Given that during 2012, William Hill reported that mobile gaming net revenue grew by over 700 per cent and that mobile betting had come to represent 26 per cent of online sportsbook turnover, it seems that Probability have got a keeper in the shape of Byrne, making what appears to be a complex recruitment process from Bet & Move a worthwhile endeavour.

ROBERT GUSTAFSSON: FACING CHARGES OF ‘QUALIFIED THEFT’

Amaya sells off WagerLogic operation CASINO

ambling software developer Amaya Gaming Group Inc is to sell off all of the outstanding shares of its online casino operator WagerLogic Malta Holdings Ltd. The organisation’s B2C arm is expected to provide a cash consideration of US$70m (£43.6m) to Amaya’s balance sheet. The company buying up WagerLogic is Goldstar, which

was created with the intention of this acquisition with the backing of Capital Pool company Aumento Capital II Corporation. It is funding the acquisition with an $80m (£50m) private placement of shares. John FitzGerald is the current chief executive officer and president of Goldstar and is also currently the chief executive of the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), a non-

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

profit trade association that serves as a collective voice for the international interactive gaming industry. The deal includes an earn out agreement for Amaya, which may receive additional cash payable on the second and third anniversary date from the deal based on the achievement of certain revenue targets. Unusually, Amaya will have to pay

some money back should WagerLogic if certain revenue targets are not achieved over the next two years. “The proposed sale of these business-to-consumer assets is consistent with our strategy of focusing primarily on being a single source business-to-business supplier of diversified gaming solutions to gaming operators,” said David Baazov,

CEO of Amaya Gaming Group. “We anticipate this divestiture will allow us to expand our existing relationships and cultivate new ones with online gaming operators.” Subsidiaries of Amaya will continue to supply WagerLogic with software, services and content to power its online casino operations, pursuant to a services agreement.

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Paf gets certified

iGaming

Finnish gaming operator Paf has been certified by eCOGRA for its gaming service online. Anders Wiklund, director at Paf.com, commented: “Since it is important for us that our customers play in a safe and friendly environment, responsible gaming is always prioritised at Paf. We are proud to receive the certifications from eCOGRA, a widely acknowledge and independent accreditation company.”

Devil Fish Poker sold for £1 The Weather Lottery has closed its online gaming arm and undergone a name change in a tumultuous month for the business.

CASINO

for a total consideration of £330,000, although only £40,000 of that was in cash. The plan had been to complement and cross-sell the poker business with its fledgling FC Betz sportsbook. Despite a flurry of partnerships with football clubs in England and Scotland, FC Betz didn’t succeed and the company has been winding down its operations and it ceased operations this summer. This helped the Board conclude that its online gambling division did not have sufficient critical mass to provide potential for attractive future returns, which led to the sale of Devil Fish. The firm is now to focus on its lottery and gaming & payment software divisions following the acquisitions earlier this year of payments software and processing businesses Poseve and Sormelle and its continued investment into lottery products. To reflect this, the company has also changed its name to Boxhill Technologies. The company has ambitious plans to deliver and acquire new products and businesses, with a particular focus on lotteries and global payment processing. Boxhill’s board includes non-executive chairman Lord Tim Razzall, the

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT’S SPOKESMAN ON TRADE AND INDUSTRY LORD TIM RAZZALL IS BOXHILL’S NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

ANALYSIS While the theory behind the acquisition of Devil Fish Poker in the first place was sound enough, especially given the marked similarities between poker players and sportsbook punters, but a lack of marketing investment and a general downturn in the poker market scuppered any chance of the business really taking off. With the newly crowned Boxhill ready to concentrate on its new payments markets and an enthused and empowered management team now at Devil Fish, there is more potential for these two operations to now thrive.

Liberal Democrat’s spokesman on Trade and Industry. Meanwhile, the company’s flagship Weather Lottery, which is calculated using the temperatures in Fahrenheit of selected destinations around Europe, is celebrating a new milestone after handing out more than £5,000,000 to good causes. Since 1998 it has given away £5,011,100 in profit to almost 1,000 charities by returning up to 55 per cent

of every pound made back to them in contributions. Chief operating officer Kevin Dale, who recently presided over an overhaul of the company’s website and operations, said: “We’re delighted that so many charities up and down Britain are the real winners when it comes to The Weather Lottery - and with such little effort. It is great when players hit the jackpot, but to have handed out £5,000,000 to

deserving causes is what we’re all about.” One beneficiary is the Born Free Foundation, where fundraising officer Joanne Bartholemew is effusive in her praise: “If you are thinking about using these guys to fundraise for your charity you won’t regret it. There’s no set up cost and we find the people there a joy to deal with. We always get the funds raised on time with a full breakdown.”

Jack Gold gets an upgrade MOBILE

obile gaming operator Locus Gaming has upgraded its Jack Gold Casino to provide customers with a better gaming experience on an even wider range of devices and operating systems. In particular, the casino will now be further optimised for a greater number of android devices and the new breed of mobile and tablet handsets in local and emerging markets. The move follows research into preferred operating systems and handsets in countries such as Australia and South Africa where

THE NEW JACK GOLD AD

parent company Locus Gaming are witnessing sustained market growth. Among the changes to the site are a new home page and customer account functions which have been moved to the right hand

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

88 chief executive officer Brian Mattingley has identified California as a key market for online gaming should the state decide to legalise the industry. 888 has been one of the more active companies in the gradually deregulating US igaming sector and has experienced a number of developments in the past three months alone. Mattingley explained: “This quarter has seen further progress in newly regulated global markets. In the US, the launch of the World Series of Poker in Nevada marked the start of our first regulated real money offer in the US and through our AAPN joint venture we have also entered into a partnership with Wynn Interactive for the development and deployment of Wynn’s online offering in New Jersey, Nevada and additional states, as they become regulated.” He added: “In 2014, we should start to see some meaningful revenues come through.” While the regulatory developments have been difficult to predict in the US, with a state-by-state approach currently trumping any moves for federal deregulation, Mattingley is hopeful that the bigger states such as New York and California will be next in line. “California is the prize. We are working flat out to identify some quality partners out there.” In Q3, 888 has reported a 2 per cent increase in group revenue to US$94m with the biggest contribution coming from the 19 per cent increase in B2C Casino revenue which was up to $45m. This improvement was driven by regulated markets, mobile and product offering. Revenue for the B2C poker business was flat at $22m, although in a subdued sector this represented further market share gains and advancing to number three in the global poker ranking. Mattingley said: “I am pleased to report another strong performance with group revenues up year on year primarily driven by casino. We continue to build customer numbers and take market share, reflecting our strong product offer, excellent platforms and marketing systems.”

POKER

he Weather Lottery (TWL) has disposed of its online poker business as the company has taken the strategic decision to close its online gambling division. The Board has agreed to sell Devil Fish to Jeff Williams, the former managing director of the group’s online gambling subsidiaries. Williams will pay £1, with Devil Fish also assuming responsibility for items which would otherwise have resulted in a circa £60,000 charge to the group. In addition, Williams will terminate his consultancy agreement with immediate effect. The company explained: “The disposal will result in a write down of circa £300,000 in the book value of Devil Fish in the year to 31 July 2013, but in combination with the ceasing of Mr Williams’ consultancy contract, will produce a positive contribution of circa £100,000 for the current financial year.” Devil Fish, which takes its brand from the nickname of famous poker player Dave Ulliott, made a small operating loss for the year to 31 July 2013 on sales of circa £35,000, with net assets of circa £57,000. TWL purchased Devil Fish Poker in January 2011

California dreaming from 888

side to ease navigation. Ed Andrewes, CEO of Locus Gaming, said: “Jack Gold Casino was built with customers in mind first and foremost. Through analysis and AB testing we’ve been able to enhance their expe-

rience as they move between an ever-increasing number of devices and platforms. As well as doing that for our existing customers, the upgrade will also help us to reach out to new ones both at home and abroad, where the penetration of different devices varies.” To support the changes, Jack Gold Casino is to feature in a new set of television adverts as part of ambitious plans to raise awareness of the mobilefocused brand. In conjunction with the promotion, parent company Locus Gaming will be giving away a solid gold bar worth £30,000 to one lucky cus-

tomer who deposits and plays on the site. Andrewes commented: “The adverts are the next stage in the evolution of Jack Gold and are part of a considerable investment in the brand to raise its profile among the next generation of casino players. We’re very happy with the product after various content additions and further optimisation in recent weeks and are keen to get the name out there now. We’re very confident consumers will like the adverts and will love the Jack Gold experience, regardless of the device they chose to play on.”

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All Slots TV campaign

iGaming

All Slots Casino is launching its first UK television advertising campaign which demonstrates the variety of ways in which players can enjoy All Slots Casino. Vice president of player relations David Brickman said: “The TV ad campaign will show players the many ways they can enjoy the site, and we hope affiliates will get on board and support the campaign.”

BetVictor launches own Live Casino product BetVictor has enhanced its position as one of the main Live Casino operators by deciding to build and run its own.

ANALYIS BetVictor has been one of the early adopters of the Live Casino product and has benefitted greatly from that position. Indeed, the operator now runs four different Live Casino products on its website, giving its customers a major variety of choice not available elsewhere. It has also recognised that some of the factors of a successful Live Casino, such as the identity and training the croupiers, actually lie in the hands of suppliers and therefore the next logical step is to host its own casino and control the variables itself. It’s an expensive investment, but one BetVictor clearly believes is worthwhile.

ANDREW DYMOCK: ‘BIGGEST SINGLE WIN BETVICTOR HAS EVER PAID OUT’

iGAMINGBRIEFS MOBILE BOOST

Interactive gaming company NetPlayTV plc has revealed that during Q3 mobile and tablet channel contribution increased 171 per cent on the prior year, and now accounts for 40 per cent of all new depositing casino players and 32 per cent of total net revenue. For the group average daily net revenue was up 19 per cent on the same period last year despite the exceptionally hot weather which led to a reduction in the total number of players during the month of July. There was a 30 per cent increase in new depositing casino players to 15,566, and a 29 per cent increase in quarterly active depositing casino players to 28,890.

LIVE CASINO

nline gaming operator BetVictor has launched its own online Live Casino. The set-up comes from the first studio to be solely owned and operated by an online gaming company, where players can speak to croupiers via a chat window to receive a verbal response via a video streaming link. This innovative approach allows punters to be far more involved in the game compared with traditional online casinos. BetVictor’s Live Casino offers an ergonomic interface using the latest software alongside entertaining croupiers to make for a seamless customer experience. The software automatically

recognises when a ball has fallen into a roulette wheel pocket, or a card has been turned face up to convert this into a form which can be used by BetVictor’s online betting console. BetVictor’s Live Casino is open 24/7 and employs 40 highly trained croupiers with a wealth of land based casino experience from around the world. Chairman Victor Chandler commented: “This is an exciting development for the company, being able to offer our customers, old and new, our very own ‘Victor’s Casino’. I aim to play an important and hands-on role in making sure the gaming experience at Victor’s Casino is unique, friendly and thoroughly professional. We are convinced this takes our online

casino to a different level to anyone else in the market place and we are delighted with the feedback we have received so far from our customers. “Having our very own casino gives us the opportunity to be flexible, to innovate with our own promotions and gives players the opportunity to communicate with our experienced croupiers and dealers whose role it is to make Victor’s the ultimate Live Casino experience. We hope you enjoy the ride.” BetVictor’s Live Casino operations manager David Pritchard commented: “I’m proud to have been the project manager for ‘Victor’s Live Casino’ studio, and am confident that we have delivered a product that will take live

casino play to the next level. Our focus is on giving our customers the personal service they would expect in any top casino with an international team of dealers delivering the games in a professional yet personal manner. We have some real personalities on board and I’m sure they will prove to be very popular with our customers. “Unlike other online casinos our management team are real casino people, with real casino experience and I’m confident that this will set Victor’s Casino apart to become the online players’ Live Casino of choice.” BetVictor’s Live Casino offers industry leading table limits, up to £3,000 on a straight up number on Roulette and up to £25,000

a box on Blackjack with a £175 real cash welcome bonus available to all new players. BetVictor’s Live Casino is available online and on iPad. Meanwhile, a North Sea Cod fisherman from Aberdeenshire has hauled in a staggering £5.4m jackpot in the ‘Hall of Gods’ in BetVictor’s casino. The married father of one reeled in the biggest ever UK online casino pay-out winning a progressive jackpot, which started with him placing just 20p a spin. Andrew Dymock, head of egaming at BetVictor, commented: “This jackpot is the biggest single win BetVictor has ever paid out and we are delighted to say that we’ve paid out £10m to two lucky BetVictor players in the last six months.”

Film deal for 32Red MARKETING

2Red has committed to a signifi- ence and we believe this partnership cant investment with Channel 4 will be a great success.” to secure sponsorship of ‘Late Mark Quayle, head of marketing Night Film’ on Film4. The 12 month at 32Red, added: “We are thrilled to partnership will see 32Red’s brand- sponsor the Late Night Film on ing feature around both the 11pm Film4. It was an obvious choice for and 1am film every night of the week. us. It is the first of many major TV The award-winning casino will use sponsorships for our flagship brand, animated idents comprising of 32Red Online Casino and we are concasino related imagery presented as fident that the association with such a homage to one of film’s greatest a strong brand will hugely increase visionaries Saul Bass. the awareness of 32Red in the UK.” Film4 is the biggest dedicated film Meanwhile, the operator has also channel with a weekly reach of over announced the appointment of 12m individuals and the partnership Matthew Booth in the newly created commenced on Film4 on Wednes- role of commercial director and to day 25 September. the Board as of 4 November 2013. Rob Ramsey, partnership leader Booth is a digital and brand-led 32RED HAS at Channel 4, said: “We are delighted communications marketing profesTEAMED UP to welcome 32Red on board as a sional, with over 13 years’ experiWITH FILM4 sponsor of Channel 4. The ‘Late Night ence of building international Film’ is very popular with our audi- marketing campaigns, in the betting

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

and gaming industry. For the last six years Booth has been employed by Betfair where he has held several positions including head of marketing & commercial, UK commercial director and most recently global head of brand. Prior to Betfair, Booth was head of marketing at 32Red Plc between June 2006 and January 2008 and has also held marketing positions with Littlewoods Bet Direct, Stanley Leisure PLC and United Racecourses. CEO Ed Ware commented: “We are delighted to have recruited Matt. His appointment is a reflection of our determination and focus on leveraging our growing marketing budget to best effect. His recent experience in brand building will help 32Red extend its reach in both

the UK and internationally, while his strategic thinking and management skills will be vital to ensure a coherent and disciplined approach to an expanded marketing function. “Matt has an excellent understanding of global brand marketing as well as strong management skills and will be a valuable addition to the main Board.”

POKER REVAMP FOR WINNER

Winner Poker has revamped its website to include an upgraded VIP section, a fresh and eye catching new design and a mobile app. Head of poker Nicholas Plotnek said: “A lot of are players are always on the go and to accommodate that market, we wanted to produce a way to enjoy the poker, that is able to offer the same quality. The increase of players playing on mobile has become a real game changer in the market, and Winner Poker is happy to have an excellent app in this increasingly important market that offers an easy-to-use experience while including the same great poker experience.” TRUE LEADER AWARD

The Intralot Group, has been distinguished with the prestigious award ‘True Leader’ by ICAP Group for the third consecutive year. Elias Athanasiou, Intralot group strategic planning director, stated: “We are honoured to receive this prestigious distinction that reflects Intralot’s endeavours towards business excellence. Since its establishment, Intralot has highly invested in an extrovert strategy. Currently, is one of the leading gaming companies worldwide and one of the most extrovert companies in the South Eastern Europe with operations on all five continents. We are determined to continue to strive towards achieving our objectives, to expand our business regionally and globally, delivering innovation across geographies.”

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Betting 53rd Levy Scheme

TOTAL INCOME TO THE LEVY BOARD FROM BOOKMAKERS IN 2014/15 IS ESTIMATED TO REACH £80.2M

LBOs 10.75 per cent of gross profits on British racing* Telephone 10.75 per cent of gross profits on British racing Online 10.75 per cent of gross profits on British racing Spread Betting 2.15 per cent of its gross profits on British racing Betting Exchanges basis equivalent to 10.75 per cent of its gross profits On-course Bookmakers flat rate of £234 Point-to-Point Bookmakers flat rate of £187 *unless gross profits are less than £55,860 per shop for smaller chains

Sportech buys Data Tote operation ACQUISITION

Levy agreement introduces £18m Incentive Fund Next year’s Levy will be supplemented by an additional Fund through which the big four bookmakers will invest in racing. RACING

he UK’s four largest retail bookmakers have agreed a four-year undertaking with racing to make additional voluntary contributions of £4.5m per year into a newly-created Incentive Fund with effect from April 2014. This £18m Incentive Fund will be managed by a new distribution group comprised of representatives of the Levy Board, racing and the four contributing bookmakers and it will advise the Board on how best to distribute the funds to deliver a more competitive British racing product and a growth in Levy. The four bookmakers William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Betfred - have also agreed to underwrite a combined contribution payable through the statutory Levy of not less than £47.5m per year, which will comprise a significant part of the 53rd Levy Scheme. The Bookmakers’ Committee estimates that the 53rd Levy Scheme, including Betfair’s estimated £7.8m contribution to British Racing, will yield £75.7m in 2014/15. A statement on behalf of William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Betfred, said: “We are delighted to have reached an arrangement with Racing, which will see the biggest

portech has snapped up betting services provider Data Tote for an initial consideration of £3.1m, with another £1m being payable if growth performance targets are hit by 2016. Upon completion of the acquisition, Sportech will exclusively provide betting services to 41 of the 43 greyhound tracks in the UK and Ireland. Data Tote, which is headquartered in Bristol, UK, brings a complementary product suite supplying its tote systems and services to 23 of the UK’s 25 greyhound tracks and all 18 tracks in Ireland. Beyond its main market in the UK and Ireland, Data Tote’s tote betting systems operate in greyhound, trotting and horse racing tracks in Sweden, Germany and Malta. Data Tote has also provided direct competition to the Totepool business, now run by Betfred, by providing the betting systems and technology at the racecourse for the unique ChesterBet, BangorBet and RiponBet betting services. Given Totepool still has an exclusive licence for horseracing pool betting in the UK, Betfred has been monitoring these operations closely and will no doubt be worried now that a firm with vast pool betting expertise has taken on its main racecourse rival. Data Tote has also recently entered a relationship with Coral to supply a range of sports pools software and services. Sportech chief executive Ian Penrose said: “I am delighted that Sportech has acquired a highly innovative organisation with a talented management team and a wide European customer base. This complementary business will strengthen and augment our global operations and widen our distribution in Europe.” Under the terms of the acquisition, the current management team of Data Tote will continue to build on its core business and the growing business opportunities while further developing Sportech’s European tote racing business. Edwin Osborne, CEO and owner of Data Tote, will continue in his role and assume additional responsibility within Sportech’s European tote racing business. Osbourne will report to Andrew Gaughan, managing director of Sportech Racing.

ACTION IMAGES / JULIAN HERBERT LIVEPIC

four bookmakers in Britain inject an additional £18m into British Racing over the next four years. This addition to our normal statutory Levy payments will ensure that the four companies underwrite a minimum £52m per year to the Levy Board. “British Racing is a core product in our betting offices and we want to see it grow and thrive. The £18m will be used to improve the competitiveness of the racing product, making it more appealing to both racegoers and betting office customers alike. We look forward to working closely with our colleagues from Racing over the next four years and maintaining, and enhancing, Britain’s status as the number one horseracing nation in the world.” Total income to the Levy Board from bookmakers in 2014/15 is estimated to reach £80.2m, including Betfair’s £7.8m and the £4.5m additional voluntary contributions. The Bookmakers’ Committee also now estimates that the current Levy Scheme in 2013/14, inclusive of Betfair’s contribution, will yield £75.6m, up from the £72.9m when its Recommendations for the 52nd Levy Scheme were approved by the Board in October 2012.

British Horseracing Authority chief executive Paul Bittar, speaking on behalf of Racing’s stakeholder organisations, said: “We are pleased to reach an early Levy settlement, and in turn trigger a significant additional voluntary contribution from the big four retail operators for the next four years. Importantly, the arrangement places the emphasis on joint efforts with the betting industry to make the Racing product even more compelling, and competitive year-round. We look forward to working with the big four bookmakers to put the new Incentive Fund to best use, and grow Levy income further.” Will Roseff, chairman of the Bookmakers’ Committee, said: “We are pleased that the Committee’s recommendations for the 53rd Levy Scheme have received the unanimous endorsement of all members of the Levy Board in advance of the statutory deadline of 31st October. I am delighted that the Committee, representing all bookmakers large and small, was able to agree a Scheme that is acceptable to all the members of the Committee, despite the bookmaking industry continuing to operate in a challenging trading environment.”

ANALYSIS What used to be characterised by brinkmanship, allout warfare and mass intransigence requiring the arbitration of a cabinet minister has now been replaced by a cordial announcement a week before the 31 October deadline. While the yield may not seem as high as 10 years ago, racing is receiving more than ever from bookmakers via heightened media rights payments as well. This year has a bonus for everyone in the shape of the incentive fund; racing’s leaders can crow about the extra funds that are being put in while the bookmakers have the added piece of mind that they will have a strong say in how their monies are spent.

IAN PENROSE: DATA TOTE WILL ‘STRENGTHEN AND AUGMENT OUR GLOBAL OPERATIONS’

Coral teams up with Health Lottery for £1m prize LOTTERY

he controversial Health Lottery, run by media mogul Richard Desmond, has teamed with with Coral in order to offer £1m jackpots. Betting shop visitors will now be able to predict the outcome of future Health Lottery draws via the Health Lottery bet - a fixed odds bet for a

£1 unit stake. There are a variety of prizes to be won from £10 for two matching balls plus the bonus ball to the £1m jackpot for predicting all five and the bonus ball correctly. The partnership neatly sidesteps a couple of issues for both parties - the Health Lottery is normally restricted to a £100,000 jackpot under society lottery regulations while bookmakers are

10 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

unable to take bets on the outcome of the National Lottery. This deal will see the Health Lottery associated with a £1m jackpot, although the Health Lottery Bet is actually a separate entity to the Health Lottery itself, while Coral can offer a fixed odds product on a nationally run and publicised lottery. Coral’s director of communica-

tions Simon Clare predicted: “This is going to go down a storm. It will only be a matter of time before we are celebrating our first Coral Health Lottery Plus millionaire for just a £1 bet.” The Gambling Commission has already been in touch warning that the bet may be against the spirit of society lotteries, but the Health Lottery has stood firm: “As the

Gambling Commission itself makes clear, offering betting on the outcome of a lottery is legal, and we will continue to work with them as we always do.” The Health Lottery also suggested that 20 per cent of all revenue from the bet will be funnelled to good causes, the same rate as the Health Lottery draw itself.

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Betting GVC turns around Sportingbet’s ‘cash burn’ GVC Holdings is trumpeting the job it has done integrating its new business into its existing framework as it has done it cheaper and more efficiently than most thought possible. The fact that it has managed this is probably down to its ruthless handling of the Sportingbet business it acquired earlier this year. The restructure saw GVC dismantling the Sportingbet PLC function, cancelling unnecessary IT projects, outsourcing core IT support to low cost jurisdictions, closing the high-cost Guernsey operation, halving the London footprint, integrating the various sportsbooks, using stateof-the-art trading tools to reduce the costs of the trading function and the termination of inefficient upfront marketing acquisition, in particular sponsorships deals.

INTEGRATION

tion of our strategic plan to restructure and return this business to profitability is near completion and has gone far better than expected. “Under GVC’s leadership, revenues in the Sportingbet business have increased and by the end of 2013 the Board expects that the inherited cost base will have already been reduced by around 50 per cent. The balance sheet has been completely repaired, the cash burn stopped and this business is now profitable.” At the time of acquisition, the GVC’s part of the Sportingbet business was described as in a poor state and heavily loss making with a balance sheet that had net current liabilities of £39.8m, declining revenues and a high cost base resulting in material operating cash outflows. Alexander commented: “I am pleased to report that the restructuring of this business is nearing completion and has gone far better than expected. The GVC management team immediately set about reducing the cost base. This, coupled with our successful efforts at increasing revenues, has resulted in Sportingbet being turned around and reaching profitability. The balance sheet has been completely repaired, the Sportingbet business is now

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ANALYSIS

GVC Holdings moved quickly to stem the losses from the Sportingbet business it acquired and has managed to turn things around already.

VC Holdings has claimed that it has managed to transform the elements of the Sportingbet business that it acquired, turning it from a ‘heavily loss making’ operation into something reaching profitability. Six months ago, GVC teamed up with William Hill to purchase the well-established Sportingbet operation, with William Hill taking the Australian business and GVC integrating Sportingbet’s others markets. GVC quickly moved to implement changes including the outsourcing of the IT infrastructure, termination of poor value acquisition marketing and corporate sponsorships, putting more focus on customer retention and VIPs, flattening the organisation structure and implemented much tighter financial controls over expenditure. GVC chief executive Kenneth Alexander said: “The Board is pleased to report another period of solid growth, increased profitability and a further dividend for our shareholders. In the first half of 2013, we completed our acquisition of Sportingbet PLC and have since been working hard to turnaround this business and integrate it into the Group. The execu-

BETTINGBRIEFS

KENNETH ALEXANDER: ‘THE BALANCE SHEET HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REPAIRED’

generating a modest amount of cash and its cost base, by the end of the year, will be around 50 per cent of the inherited position.” The acquisition, as well as other operational improvements at GVC, has led to: 144 per cent growth in H1-2013 Group revenues and 132 per cent growth in H1-2013 Clean EBITDA compared to H12012. GVC said that it continues to run a ‘lean head-office’ and claims it has demonstrated its capability to continue to grow and remains ambitious to execute other business combinations should such future opportu-

nities arise. For Sportingbet itself, revenues for the first half of the year were up 5.2 per cent to 302,000 euro (£256,000) a day. The sports margin achieved in H1-2013 was also higher at 9.1 per cent compared to 8.9 per cent for H1-2012. Alexander explained: “This was against the backdrop of no major football tournament this year. The Board is pleased to report that the sports margin percentage has been more than sustained during a period of organisational change within the Group where GVC increased the level of automated trading

and reduced the cost of the trading operation.” Revenues at the firm’s CasinoClub operation averaged 85,000 euro (£72,000) per day in H1-2013 - 9 per cent higher than in H1-2012. Alexander believes his firm has a bright future: “The group has performed well in the first half of 2013 and continues to trade well in Q32013. The Board is therefore confident that market expectations for the current financial year will be exceeded and our confidence in the future is represented in the group’s dividend to shareholders.”

Betfair has secured three key advertising packages on Channel 4 Racing in 2014. The deal will run throughout 2014 and sees the global betting company secure a split screen 30-second ad spot (also known as in-vision), a 30-second advert in The Morning Line programme and, from April to December 2014, the coveted Live Odds advert that appears during afternoon coverage. Betfair’s brand director Mark Ody commented: “Betfair remains committed to being as close to the sporting action as possible - part of the thrill of live sport; Channel 4 Racing is the latest, perfect addition to our advertising and sponsorship portfolio which includes Sky Sport, At the Races, Talksport and more.” HARLEQUINS PROMOTES THE SPREAD

Spread operator IG is to sponsor rugby union club Harlequins for the next three seasons. The IG logo will appear on the sleeve of the Harlequins playing shirt as well as across items of the match day and non-match day training kit. IG’s chief executive Tim Howkins commented: “This partnership is an exciting opportunity for us, because we see in Harlequins many of the qualities and values that drive IG as a company, including leadership, innovation and performance at the highest level.” Harlequins commercial director James Kendall added: “We have already identified numerous beneficial opportunities to explore together and we are very much looking forward to a long and successful partnership.” GOOD START

RACING

n IT worker from London has finally got his hoof on the property ladder after scooping over £72,000 on a horseracing bet. The man placed the Lucky 15 wager - a combination of singles, doubles, trebles and a fourfold accumulator - in a Samvo Betting Café in Camden. Rather than an exotic holiday or sports car, the regular customer has now pledged to use his winnings to put down a deposit on a new house.

His first selection, Letemgo, won the 2.20pm at Wincanton after going off at odds of 40/1. The horse had been priced at 25/1 when he placed the bet, but he was paid out at 40/1 due to Samvo’s best odds guaranteed concession. He then waited over two hours to see 16/1 shot Pinkneys Prince win the 4:30pm by a nose at Uttoxeter. And it was another close call at Brighton ten minutes later when Ficelle won the 4:40 - this time by a neck - after being sent off at 14/1.

12 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

His £6 Lucky 15 bet contained one loser. But the three single selections paid out £438, the three doubles £9,402, and the treble £62,730 - giving him a grand total of £72,570 for his £90 stake. Samvo Camden manager Rob Smith said: “This is the biggest bet we’ve ever paid out on in this shop and we’re delighted that it has gone to one of our regulars. Selecting three winners in one day is no mean feat, but to pick them at such long odds is a fantastic achievement. We all hope he’s very happy in

his new home - but comes back to see us very soon!” A Sky Bet punter has been even more fortunate after scooping £52,000 from a 25p each-way Lucky 31. A meeting at Redcar in late September saw the customer successfully choose Beau Mistral (5/1), Ebony Express (8/1), Auto Mac (12/1), Mercer's Row (20/1) and finally Lees Anthem (13/2). Sky Bet Racing PR manager Michael Shinners said: “Sometimes you have to doff your cap to a punter. To find those five winners at

ACTION IMAGES / JULIAN HERBERT LIVEPIC

Lucky punters get big wins

LETEMGO WAS A 40/1 WINNER WITH SAMVO

Redcar was a remarkable effort and while there were plenty of heads in hands in our trading room after Lees Anthem's success, I’m sure there were wild celebrations elsewhere!”

Irish online operator SeanieMac, which was launched in April, has seen its gross profit grow to US$83,021 in the 3rd quarter compared to $20,829.90 in Q2 - an increase of over 400 percent from the previous quarter. The firm said: “We are very pleased with this strong start to our operations but we remain focused that we have a lot of work to do to grow the business in the months and years ahead. We will continue to evaluate all our marketing initiatives in television, print, radio, PPC and digital media to determine the best allocations for our marketing dollars and the returns on those investments.”

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No over-regulation for bookies UK prime minister David Cameron has said that he doesn’t want betting shops ‘over-regulated’. When quizzed about the controversy over B2 gaming machines, he countered: “I do think that it is worth having a proper look at the issue to see what we can do. Yes, we want to ensure that bookmakers are not overregulated, but we also want a fair and decent approach that prevents problem gambling.”

Commission issues warning over traders Bookmakers have been told to keep a closer watch on their trading rooms to ensure their regulatory obligations are kept. REGULATION

he Gambling Commission has cautioned bookmakers that they need to make sure their trading rooms are monitored as diligently as other aspects of their operations. The warning comes after the regulator’s long term engagement with corporate bookmaker Ladbrokes over a number of compliance and policy matters. The engagement, which lasted from late 2012 to summer 2013, found Ladbrokes had allowed a situation to develop in which the trading function appeared to be subject to a substantially lesser degree of

formal control than other parts of the business. Indeed, Ladbrokes itself had come to this conclusion itself and was acting upon the information following an internal assessment. It was concluded that this lack of formal control had led to ‘real and significant vulnerabilities’. The Commission said: “Trading rooms for betting operators are increasingly critical to an operator’s competitive edge. All operators should be particularly careful to ensure that, in managing their trading room operations, they do not put at risk their regulatory obligations.

“From discussions with Ladbrokes and others, the Commission considers that such lack of formal control is likely to be widespread among larger betting operators (i.e. those with a trading room function). We therefore urge all operators to satisfy themselves, as a matter of urgency, that their own arrangements for the effective governance of trading room functions do not expose themselves to unnecessary and unacceptable risk to their ability to deliver the licensing objec-

tives and comply with the conditions and codes attached to their licences.” The engagement also highlighted that many risk monitoring systems, regarding money laundering and social responsibility risks, may disproportionately focus on the highest value customers and may mask risk arising from those customers who would not be considered ‘high value’. The Commission has now issued a challenge to the industry to get its act in order: “It is important that

gambling operators accept and rise to the challenge of identifying the risk to all players, and not just high value customers, of problem gambling and link customer activity across a range of products. It is a theme that has emerged from other recent engagements, and the Commission encourages operators and the industry more widely to make further progress in building its capacity to identify those customers who may be problem gamblers or at risk, and intervene

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effectively.” The issue of suitable money laundering controls also raised its head again, with the Commission noting a wide variation in the interpretation of anti-money laundering obligations and practice. It also recognised a perceived conflict for the betting industry between its obligations under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to report potential criminal activity and continue normal operations while investigations take place and the regulatory obligation to protect the vulnerable. However, the regulator said that view is ‘misguided’ adding: “The Commission intends to augment its guidance in order that operators might more easily understand how to deliver their concurrent obligations of identifying and interacting with players at risk and observing their obligations under POCA. The revised guidance is likely to cover the importance of seeking appropriate consent. In the meantime, operators are encouraged to maintain an effective audit trail, make sure consent is properly considered and a range of information sources appropriately to make judgments about risk and suspicion.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013 13

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Politics Isle of Man signs tax agreement with UK welcomed by Chancellor George Osborne MP. he Isle of Man has It is modelled on the become the first British requirements of the Foreign dependency to sign an Account Tax Compliance Act agreement with the United (FATCA) introduced by the Kingdom extending the auto- United States to ensure the matic disclosure of tax infor- tax compliance of its citizens mation. The with international interests. intergovernmental agreeOn the current timetable for ment was signed in London implementation of the new by chief minister Allan Bell agreement the two governMHK and HM Treasury ments have agreed to start Exchequer Secretary David exchanging additional inforGauke MP, and has been mation from 2016. TAXATION

The Isle of Man already shares information automatically on personal savings income, with the UK and other European Union countries, having been the first non-EU jurisdiction to make a public commitment to this under the EU Savings Directive in June 2009. The Island was also the first to commit, in December last year, to the FATCA-style agreement with the UK extending the scope of automatic disclosure to

include, for example, companies and trusts. Bell said: “In signing this historic agreement with the United Kingdom we are underlining the message to our neighbours and the wider world that our Island is a responsible centre for top quality international business. The Isle of Man was the first to strike this agreement with the UK and we are now the first to sign, demonstrating the clear commit-

ABB accepts Goulden handshake as chair steps down

14 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

Antigua to suspend US IP rights over WTO dispute ntigua and Barbuda is once again aiming to capitalise on its case against the USA by suspending its intellectual property rights following the WTO ruling in 2004 that the country’s banning of online gaming from the islands was against the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The online gaming jurisdiction has set up a WTO Remedies Implementation Committee replete with expertise in the areas of intellectual property rights, drafting of domestic intellectual property rights legislation, international trade policy and law, information technology. Although its proceedings are confidential, the Committee is recommending the establishment by the Government of Antigua & Barbuda of a statutory body to own, manage and operate the ultimate platform to be created for the monetisation or other exploitation of the suspension of American intellectual property rights authorised earlier this year by the WTO. It is understood that the necessary domestic legislation to implement

TRADE BODIES

bring everyone across this important retail sector together has been the key to securing this worldleading document.” From a personal perspective Goulden said that he wants to focus more of his time on the work for the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT), where he is also chairman, and to be free to promote the growing responsible gambling agenda in Britain. “To me gambling is an enjoyable leisure pursuit enjoyed by millions of people and responsible gambling is about balancing legitimate business growth, and freedom of choice, with public protection of the weak and vulnerable in society. In a social democracy we can and should be able to have both.” Anthony Jennens, chairman of problem gambling charity GamCare, is a supporter of the move: “On behalf of GamCare I welcome this news by Neil and congratulate him. Devoting more of his time to problem gamblers through increased involvement with the Responsible Gambling Trust is truly a significant step, a considerable personal sacrifice and a move which will I hope be applauded by all. I very much look forward to continue to work with him for a long time to come.” The ABB has engaged

with a diverse, dynamic economy and a track record of leading the way in the field of international tax co-operation. “We have a long-established policy of complying with global standards, and we saw some time ago that enhanced automatic exchange of information on the FATCA model was becoming the new global standard in tax transparency.”

LAW

Neil Goulden is to concentrate on his role at the Responsible Gambling Trust after announcing plans to step down at the ABB. he Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) has announced that Neil Goulden has decided to step down from his position as chairman of the Council of the ABB as soon as a successor is in place. Goulden explained: “The past eighteen months have been a very challenging time for the sector. However, I am delighted that the ABB has won its battle to ensure that regulation of the sector is based on fact and evidence not myth. The Triennial Review announcement has been made and the ABB has launched a wide ranging Code of Conduct for Responsible Gambling in betting offices. “Also as I am sixty next month, and have a number of unfulfilled career aspirations, it was a good time to take stock and handover to a new independent chair who will bring fresh ideas and a new impetus to the ABB.” ABB chief executive Dirk Vennix added: “I would like to thank Neil for his support and advice over the last year, especially as we have been working hard to introduce our Code for Responsible Gambling and Player Protection. This new Code applies in 95 per cent of the UK’s high street betting shops and Neil’s ability to

ment of both countries to the development of a new global standard in automatic exchange.” He added: “[The] signing is a significant step towards that global standard and further proof that the tax haven moniker in relation to the Isle of Man is well and truly dead, as David Cameron recognised recently in the House of Commons. The Isle of Man is a forward looking country

NEIL GOULDEN: ‘A GOOD TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND HANDOVER’

ANALYSIS The truth is that Neil Goulden’s dual roles of chair of the ABB and chair of the Responsible Gambling Trust were untenable in the long run. While straddling the two might actually have provided some benefits for both organisations, in reality it was in danger of undermining the hard work that the Trust does given the enthusiasm that anti-gambling protesters have been highlighting the close links with the industry. Given the heightened political environment for gambling at the moment (when is it not?) the industry will hope that Ellwood Atfield will be on top form in finding a suitable replacements for the ABB.

Ellwood Atfield to lead their search for a new chair and a further announcement will be made in due course. The firm’s Harry Friend commented added: “Ellwood Atfield is delighted to be working with the ABB to recruit their new independent chairman. Neil Goulden

has done an exceptional job during his time in post, having helped to achieve a number of positive outcomes for the industry and thus creates large shoes to fill. Ellwood Atfield is a headhunter specialising in ‘recruiting people who talk for you’.”

the remedies is in the final stages of preparation for submission to Parliament. Additionally, an announcement regarding the opening of tenders for private sector participation in the operating of the platform should be announced shortly. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer expressed his satisfaction with the work of the Committee and observed: “In the face of the ongoing failure of the United States to negotiate with Antigua and Barbuda a reasonable settlement of this dispute, the implementation of trade remedies awarded by the WTO is an important international responsibility; and I am pleased that the Committee continues working with expedience, meeting as scheduled and focusing on its mandate to utilise the WTO remedies in a responsible and proper manner. “This will give Antigua & Barbuda a tangible benefit for our years of perseverance on this matter. Be assured that resolving the WTO Gaming case in a fair, reasonable and positive way is a top priority of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.”

BALDWIN SPENCER: ‘TANGIBLE BENEFIT FOR OUR YEARS OF PERSEVERANCE’

sales@betconstruct.com www.betconstruct.com

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BettingBusinessInteractive • JANUARY 2013

Betting Business Interactive Edition

2 B

November 2013

24 Israel set to become one of the biggest export markets for UK and Irish racing worldwide

Essential guide to ... Tablet Gaming

Kiron Interactive first virtual sports supplier to get accreditation by AAMS in Italy

28 Transformers slot from IGT Interactive takes branded offering to another universe

30 Continent 8 Technologies diversifies and expands Isle of Man data centre

NETPLAY TV

IOS is still a long way ahead Netplay TV CEO Charles Butler explains how his company uses its regular late night TV gaming shows to really make the most of the second screen phenomenon. re tablets more popular than mobiles for second screen gaming or does the sheer weight of smartphones on the market compared to tablets make them number 1? The experience on tablets is better due to the screen size, however, due to the sheer number of iPhones in the market compared to iPads we still have approximately twice as many new accounts via iPhone compared to iPads.

Sure shot Inspired’s new Virtual Darts provides a unique blend of real darts footage and CGI animation. Fixed odds on the eight available markets are displayed before the event and the results are generated by a random number generator (RNG) 25

Do you notice any difference in behaviour between mobile and tablet customers? How about IOS and Android customers? Monthly revenue per iPad customer is higher than iPhone and is more in line with that of a traditional desktop customer. IPhone player values, however, are increasing over time. The customers that play across both devices are proving to be worth significantly more than the average player. IOS is still a long way ahead of Android for us when it comes to player registrations, unique player numbers and revenue per user. For Android there are such a huge number of devices to optimise against the player experience on the whole still isn’t as good as IOS.

What advantages does the tablet have over the smartphone? Has the market fully exploited these yet? Tablet has significant advantages over smartphone with the most obvious being its screen size, and we believe the market is only just beginning to be tapped into. There is a lot more you can do with tablets, for example, we can stream our live TV feed via tablet where this is difficult on smartphone especially via HTML5. As a business we are very excited about what we can do moving forward using the interaction between our TV broadcasts and tablets as the second screen and this is only going to get better as technology advances moving into 2014. What’s the participation rate like outside of the live broadcasts? Participation is still high outside the live broadcast as we offer a 24/7 service, however, it is particularly high during the show. In the last six months out of all our mobile players over 80 per cent had played on the live show roulette game where player interaction is greatest. CHARLES BUTLER: ‘VERY EXCITED ABOUT WHAT WE CAN DO MOVING FORWARD’

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www.microgaming.co.uk/mobile

VIEWPOINT

WILLIAM HILL

Second sight

‘The new PC’

he second screen gaming phenomenon is a real one and one that is particularly suited to tablets, but operators need to have the right content. Live betting sportsbooks around sporting events are an obvious match, but what room is there for gaming? Firms such as Netplay TV have taken the extreme route of broadcasting their own content with which to interact, but that is a costly and finite market. Operators would do well to offer up complementary products to coincide with TV events - such as a Deal or No Deal themed slot to coincide with the gameshow’s broadcast. Channel 4 already has its own app for second screen entertainment across its channels; it isn’t much of a leap for gambling firms to offer similar content via a well managed app. Of course the best thing about apps is that they’ve made it second nature to download third party content. In the past casual players were reluctant to download casino software, instead opting for the less lucrative Flash versions. Nowadays, the app store is almost the first point of call for some gamblers and given the increased revenues that tend to be generated from apps, this is a good thing for the operators who manage to get their real estate on their customers’ tablets.

A doubling of customers using tablets at William Hill suggests that the platform is really taking off for the bookmaker. ecent figures released by William Hill are instructive insomuch as the percentage of its customers using tablets to bet with the company has almost doubled within 12 months. In Q2 2012, 12 per cent of the firm’s online customers gambled via tablet, yet by Q2 2013 this figure had increased to 24 per cent. Similarly, the percentage of customers betting via smartphone increased from 28 per cent in 2012 to 42 per cent for the same period this year. In Q2 2013, 10 per cent of customers used tablets, smartphones and PCs to bet, covering all three channels available to them. However, 5 per cent of customers only used tablets for gambling, with a further 5 per cent using both PC and tablets. Just 3 per cent of customers used the smartphone and tablet combination. William Hill also revealed that most

weekday tablet usage occurred between 8-9pm, badging it as ‘the new PC’ and suggesting that it was taking over media consumption during evenings. The firm has only recently launched an iPad app of its hugely successful Live Casino, which offers customers with the world’s most iconic tablet the opportunity to enjoy a ‘truly world class’ gaming experience. Juergen Reutter, director of mobile at William Hill, said at the launch: “Live Casino has upped the ante in online gaming. This is the closest you can get to playing in a real casino - while still being in the comfort of your own home. We have worked meticulously on making this an exceptional experience and are delighted to now offer this app to our customers on the world’s most desirable tablet device.”

William Hill offers more than 60 real male and female dealers, 25 Blackjack tables, seven Roulette tables, three Baccarat and two Casino Hold ‘Em tables. Players can interact with their dealers and fellow players, and hear the dealer’s responses via in-built audio, while placing their bets is easy with just a few taps of the touchscreen. In addition, there are choice of game views - including full screen video - and easy switching between horizontal and vertical game layout.

www.realisticgames.co.uk

Andrew McCarron

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B2B

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

Essential Guide to ... Tablet Gaming MARKET

The Year of the Tablet If 2013 was the defining year that mobile gaming finally arrived, then surely 2014 shall be known as the year of the tablet according to Mark McGuinness, i-gaming futurologist at Mainstream Marketing & Communications. ablet gaming in my opinion is more than just a third screen. With analysts such as Gartner predicting that tablet shipments shall grow to 53.4 per cent this year or some 184m units, this presents a huge opportunity for egaming operators in terms of device preference and market share. Yes, many within the industry would argue it’s just another device. A device which provides more IT and development overheads to maintain and manage the constantly changing operating system, updates and myriad of other different challenges, never mind the actual game content. How quickly we forget, as the industry encountered the same problems with the PC and desktop market - different operat-

ing systems, different browsers, screen resolutions - but the industry adapted and it can do so again. Sure, the mighty Apple has just introduced its new iPad Air with the A7 chip or more sleepless nights ahead for operators. But this further presents more opportunity in the tablet category. The A7 chip which runs on the iOS platform on a 64-bit processor like the recently launched iPhone 5S has more memory to handle more programs simultaneously. From a gaming perspective, this new generation of tablets from Apple, like the Air with Retina displays offer a mind blowing 3.1m pixels of screen resolution. This allows for more engaging and immersive content for the explosion growth in 3D

games to be developed on the tablet. The interesting point here in terms of Apple is that its two key products the iPhone 5S and iPad Air which are hoping to address the languishing fortunes of the company offer the same operating base - the iOS platform on a 64-bit processor and the A7 chip. This allows for a cohesive development approach from app developers and games content studios. This unified development means brands have more confidence to invest in a dedicated tablet and mobile strategy. Tablets are here to stay and offer an unparalleled opportunity for forward thinking brands to attract, engage customers with a truly powerful gaming experience

BETCONSTRUCT

THE NEW IPAD AIR

over a smartphone with a 3-4 inch screen. Finally, with global economies recovering at varying rates, recent research has revealed that 29 per cent of tablet owners are willing to spend at least $500 on purchases from their device compared only 16 per cent of smartphone owners. More than 60 per cent of tablets owners who have installed apps on their smartphones have paid for an app compared with 40 per cent of non-tablet owners - tablet owners typically have more disposable income and are therefore a highly desirable customer group. In my opinion 2014 will most certainly be the Year of the Tablet.

ENTWINETECH

Wider reach through web BetConstruct explains how the tablet platform has brought an ‘immensely rewarding learning process’ as it develops compatible products. ow does BetConstruct approach the tablet platform for its gaming content? As an e-gaming technology provider BetConstruct enables its partners to reach the growing number of mobile users worldwide. By expanding the content delivery channels, we enhance user experience and do it innovatively to match the high expectations of our licensees. Our choice of technologies is informed by a variety of factors specific to tablet users in the regions where we have strong presence. BetConstruct focuses on affordable state-of-the-art solutions for small and medium sized betting businesses, enabling them to compete against (and come out on top of) the biggest and the best. That’s why our tablet platform, based on the adoption of web applications as the main technology on which to build and expand, is user friendly and sophisticated at the same time.

What is the tablet platform’s biggest strength when it comes to developing product? The explosion of tablet devices brings an interesting set of opportunities for e-gaming developers. The most obvious strength here is the use of web technologies. This allows us to cross the barriers of different mobile OS and develop applications that can run on nearly all devices, offering the same great experience to most users. Added to this is the co-existence of extreme mobility and continuous connectivity that allows for a richer interaction with users in terms of quantity of content consumed and more

rapid update cycles. Re-imaging some of our products for the tablet platform has been an immensely rewarding learning process, full of challenges. Overcoming these challenges allowed us to discover new ways to reach more users, with greatly varying commute habits and lifestyles, more often. Do mobile players differ from tablet players? When talking about tablets, naturally, mobile users come to mind. The ability to differentiate between these segments with such a natural affinity is critical. It can make all the difference between failed and successful tablet apps. To address these subtle differences required a joint effort of product managers, developers, designers and user experience specialists. Without this team it is hard to appreciate such aspects as, for example, screen real estate, intuitive user interfaces, minimising views and buttons while emphasising and maximising content in a non-intrusive manner. While these issues are common to mobile and tablets platforms, the solutions they receive in each of them cannot be the same. In fact, quite often they can be so different as to warrant development and maintenance of different versions of the same application. You have some more products in the pipeline what are you working on at the moment? While continually enhancing our sports book app, we actively work to bring our poker, casino and skill games to the tablet.

Live Dealer on the move Tablets are particularly effective platforms for Live Dealer products and EntwineTech has just developed a mobile solution for its portfolio. ntwineTech, one of the world’s largest suppliers and licensors of Live Dealer software and services, has announced the launch of its mobile casino solution. EntwineTech a pioneer of PC-based Live Dealer solutions has drawn upon its years of innovation and design expertise to produce an elegant user friendly mobile interface that will wow customers around the world. While the new value added mobile version of the Live Dealer software is a free upgrade for all our merchants and in turn, free for players. Entwine Tech believes it will be particularly attractive to VIP customers who will benefit from the availability of their favourite games any time anywhere. Ian Dunning a spokesperson for Entwine Tech stated: “When we first set out to develop a mobile version of the Live Dealer software our VIP’s were at the front our minds. Our VIP’s heavy use of our product and their demanding requirements set the agenda for our development team.” EntwineTech’s ground breaking mobile software will enable its licensees to reap the rewards of a market which although still in its infancy produced over $3.6bn in wagers last year and is set for explosive growth. Dunning added: “We are all very excited about the launch of our new mobile casino and our customers are queuing up to launch it. This is the future of gaming and we are proud to be at the forefront of it.” EntwineTech - Live Dealer Solution was established in 2004 and is an Alderney and First Cagayan licensed Live Dealer Software Company.

sales@microgaming.co.uk www.microgaming.co.uk/mobile

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BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

Essential Guide to ... Tablet Gaming GTECH

REALISTIC GAMES

Keeping a finger on the pulse of tablet gaming

An area of focus for operators

Head of mobile Shaz Mirza discusses GTech’s strategy in the rapidly expanding tablet gaming market.

In the land of mobile gaming the smartphone is king. Thanks to the sheer volume of devices and vast improvements to cellular networks, revenues have gone through the roof. In the rush to grab a piece of the pie, however, it may be a mistake to think this will always be the case - or that a phone solution is a tablet solution too. For the time being, tablet lags behind the phone in the number of bets, turnover, and gross win. Yet by our calculations, the yield from tablet players is significantly higher than those using phones. This is most probably down to a number of factors that are worth bearing in mind. In the first instance, slots and table games are far more ‘playable’ on tablets than smartphones due to their larger real estate. Being more powerful they are also capable of offering more functionality and features that result in longer session times. So too does playing in the comfort of your home as most tablet users do - where there is a more stable Wi-Fi connection, as opposed to using your smartphone on the hoof and on 3G. Less scientific but no less convincing, is the assumption that today’s tablet players are likely to be more wealthy in order to afford the device in the first place. Yet with more and more people replacing their PCs with tablets, and their price coming down as the market is flooded with cheaper Android versions, the balance in the volume over value argument may well shift. The bottom line is that tablet gaming is extremely important already - and will only become more so and should therefore be an area of focus for operators as part of their overall mobile gaming strategy. And the key is to take advantage of the reasons why people play on their tablets by designing and delivering games specifically for them. Not only that, it is important that these tailored tablet solutions are effectively delivered via a sensible user agent detection strategy, thus helping to optimise that all-important customer experience. While this approach is undoubtedly more complicated and resource-intensive for the supplier, it is the only way both they and operators will reap the rewards of tablet gaming. Merely up-scaling smartphone games will no longer cut the mustard with a player whose device offers more sophistication. Whether tablet will ever steal the smartphone’s crown remains to be seen, but those that fail to recognise its potential are missing out on a king’s ransom.”

The growth of tablets is scarcely believable. Several of our customers are already reporting that gaming on tablets has become more popular than smartphones. Considering mobile gaming - excluding sports betting - is registering about 20-30 per cent of desktop’s numbers, that is pretty incredible for a platform which is barely three years old. Until recently, smartphones were the favoured on-the-go device, while tablets were for the home, with over 90 per cent of tablets sold being Wi-Fi only and around 10 inches in size. However, the Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, and iPad mini have brought portability. Now tablets are everywhere we turn. As such, major retail stores and restaurants, large shopping malls, and other places that attract high footfall, like transport providers, are seriously stepping up their Wi-Fi

“

Realistic Games commercial director Andy Harris discusses the potential for the tablet to start usurping the smartphone.

connectivity and network providers are constantly improving 3G and 4G access. I predict in the next year or two we will see more ‘responsive designed’ desktop sites that adapt to the available screen real estate and smoothly work on tablets, giving the devices full desktop features for the first time, with smartphones focusing on the core features and forming an extension or added value channel. At GTech, we don’t just ‘scale up’ our games, we create different graphic assets for tablets and smartphones; we have true HD graphics with intuitive, tablet-specific controls. This is true gaming and the edge that puts GTech ahead of its competitors. The best way to design is with all devices in mind. We take our customers’ requirements and see how they fit on smartphones, desktops, and tablets.

Then we refine, add, remove, and iterate to ensure the core features are present, but that each channel is unique and appeals to players in their own right. A multi-platform, single experience is our ultimate goal as we set our sights on the future of gaming for retail, interactive – and beyond. We are working hard to achieve this. Last year was about setting up the underlying infrastructure to support mobile and tablet gaming. In 2013 we have concentrated on broadening the product range with us delivering across verticals in sports, bingo, casino, poker, and lottery. Next year it will be about depth and continuing to improve and align the look, feel, and delivery of all our games to take maximum advantage of responsive design techniques and fall closer in line with desktop features - preparing for the inevitable PC-tablet flip.”

BIT8

Using intelligence to cut costs The back office provided by Bit8 is just as effective for tablets as it is for mobile and desktop operations. obile and tablet is very much a part of platform developer Bit8’s strategy, with all its technology capable of supporting mobile, tablet and desktop. According to CEO Angelo Dalli, Bit8’s special technology enables the firm to produce HTML5-based mobile and tablet applications which are faster and more responsive. Indeed, the company’s tests suggest that Bit8 products have achieved more than four times the speed of a regular HTML5 application. “We have achieved this through the development of a special ‘middle layer’ that bridges multiple devices, which allows

the same content to be displayed efficiently on a mobile, tablet or a desktop site,” Dalli explained. “Effectively, what it does is automatically render content from the CMS for the device on which the end-user is playing. If we don’t know what device is being used we send a generic site.” The main changes are graphical, but there are some changes to the back office: “We change some content, for example if you are using an older iPad then certain things cannot be displayed, and we will automatically turn off or modify some features to optimise the experience on some devices. This really makes the applications much more responsive.” The Bit8 backend is built on the notion of using artificial intelligence to reduce work and automate labour, with the company’s mantra being ‘increasing revenue while decreasing costs’ for operators. The AI allows the creation of more bonus offers and better promo-

tions for players while simultaneously saving a lot of time, for example the usual four hour timeframe for structuring a new bonus offer is slashed to 30 minutes. In the last 12 months Bit8 has signed up 10 per cent of the top 50 online casinos as clients and Dalli believes this is because of the power of the firm’s back office capabilities. “Tablets and mobiles provide precise data locations, allowing us to do more interesting things with the bonus offers. We have support for geographical based bonuses in addition to other open source type of bonuses. If a player is in a particular city or near a sports stadium, we can have the system offer a particular bonus relevant to their location.” Dalli added that the size of the tablet allows the provision of more opportunities to cross-sell and reduce the amount of downtime: “More screen space on the tablet allows us to do more interesting things too. We have found that tablets are particularly good at sportsbook, but we can also offer things like mini-games during breaks in play or slow periods.”

“

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B2B

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

IGT

Harnessing the power Leigh Nissim, IGT commercial director of Interactive, discusses why creating tablet-specific games content is crucial and how IGT is leading the way with the release of its first bespoke games for the incredibly popular devices. The desktop isn’t dead - and mobiles are more than making their mark - this Christmas will demonstrate how the tablet is climbing its way to the top of the tree. Consumer habits are changing. The latest estimates from technology researcher IDC expect tablet sales, at 84.1m units, to outstrip those of personal computers, at 83.1m, during the fourth quarter of 2013, with this seasonal swing set to become a permanent trend by 2015. As demands have moved, so has the parlance. We no longer just speak of ‘online games,’ but ‘desktop games,’ ‘mobile games’ and ‘tablet games.’ But what does it mean to truly fit into that final category of tablet games? At IGT we have a clear plan to let tablet players play tablet games by designing and devel-

“

oping titles that truly harness the potential and the power of the devices. The first step in this strategy is our launch of Roulette! and Blackjack. While these games mirror their online siblings, they are very much built to bring the best out of tablets; they have a tailored interface taking advantage of the increased screen size, richer graphics, advanced animation as well as super quick download. They also demonstrate the fact that IGT has an impressive portfolio of table games to match the slots library with which we are more traditionally associated. Roulette! and Blackjack are now available on desktop, mobile and tablet. In the battle to acquire new players it is vital that operators arm themselves with the ability to serve the highest quality content on

every channel. The exponential growth that we are witnessing in playing time shows that the appetite is there and it is important to note that it is occurring without any significant cannibalisation. From land-based to desktop, mobile and

tablet to social there are no gaps in our offering. IGT’s partners can market and provide top performing products – and the very same games - across every single channel and that puts an operator in a position of real strength.”

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B2B

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

Essential Guide to ... Tablet Gaming NET ENTERTAINMENT

MICROGAMING

Planning for a desktopfree future

Ready on the day of launch

Net Entertainment is diligently carrying out research in to the capabilities of the tablet platform and how customers use the relatively new technology. et Entertainment CEO Per Eriksson is planning ahead for a time when tablets and mobiles will be the standard gaming platform when desktop PCs will be sent to the history books in terms of online gaming. However, he doesn’t think that will happen anytime soon, especially as at the moment they are complementing each other without a hint of substation of spend. “There is a big demand out there for tablet, that’s for sure,” Eriksson commented. “The thing that we have experienced is an enormous increase in traffic but we are not seeing a decrease in the desktop games. I think the boost has been that you can play almost anywhere now. Slots are much more accessible thanks to the tablet and mobile. There will come a day when PCs are gone, but it’s not going to be in the near future. It makes it very interesting.” While at the moment Net Entertainment’s Touch portfolio of games cater to both the tablet and mobile, Eriksson foresees tablet-exclusive content in the future: “There will come a time where we will be doing something specifically for tablets, because things are changing in that environment so quickly. There have been changes in size, resolution and internal specs, allowing us to do things that were impossible a few years back. We are experimenting all the time to see what’s possible.

PER ERIKSSON: ‘A BIG DEMAND OUT THERE FOR TABLET’

“We’ve been doing a lot of research because desktop will sooner or later be replaced by tablets and therefore we need to make sure we know how players behave differently. We look at the sound and music for the games and presentation of different buttons within the games. Any innovations need to make sense from a player perspective and add something to the experience; otherwise they are not worth doing.” For the company’s recent South Park slot, both the PC and Touch versions of the game were launched at the same time, an impressive feat considering one was HTML5 and the other is Flash. But Eriksson believes this kind of simultaneous launch will be the standard soon. He’s also a believer that licences, such as South Park and the forthcoming Creature from the Black Lagoon, are a good marketing tool. “If you go out to the public with one of your own new titles like EggOMatic it can take a bit of time for players to familiarise themselves with the game. But if you have a name that people are already familiar with then the game has already removed some barriers to gameplay. To bring in new players and existing players to the casino, the branded games are very helpful. South Park will attract fans of the show that might never have played an online slot before.”

NEXTGEN

Working seamlessly across multiple platforms David Johnson, sales director at Sydney-based slots developer NextGen Gaming, part of the NYX Gaming Group, believes simultaneous launches across all platforms are the way to go. ow does NextGen approach the tablet platform? Can one solution cross both mobile and tablet? A tablet is mobile! NextGen’s HTML5 solution is designed to give players the flexibility to play on handset and tablet without loss of gameplay experience. Tablet players also have the luxury of accessing both mobile and PC game environments depending on their location and hardware specs. NextGen’s clever UI design means that the same game client works seamlessly across multiple platforms and devices. The same high quality user experience is enjoyed whether the player is using an iPad with iOS7 or a Samsung S4 on KitKat (Android), while the device and OS detection controls how the game is scaled and oriented within the browser. Focus group feedback suggests this approach is well accepted.

Are you noticing a growing interest in tablet games from your customers? Absolutely. ‘Mobile first’ is a phrase that’s thrown out there sometimes, but at NextGen we’re really seeing the benefits of offering the same title across format (Desktop, Mobile, Social & LBO) at launch. The ability to offer our rich slots IP across formats from day one is compelling for our partners and supports their cross channel marketing efforts enabling the mutual maximisation of opportunity from the content. What are the major advantages of tablets from a games design perspective? Game navigation across devices is fairly uniform, developing features and info pages with common swipes rather than individual buttons allows more intuitive interactivity. A tablet can be perceived

more as a large phone rather than a small computer and allows greater demographic penetration. You could argue that a tablet is less intimidating than PC, and, of course, with a tablet there is a lot more real estate which scales to present the games better. Do you believe tablet gaming will supersede PC-based gaming? I believe that mobile gaming will for the mid-term compliment PC-based gaming. Tablet hardware is advancing rapidly, but the nature of their design does not cater so easily for multitasking, multigaming and multiscreening as well as PC does. Second screen theories are well published and with merit; certainly the opportunity for players to utilise a tablet whilst being semi-occupied elsewhere is of benefit to those who recreationally like to spin up on a slot.

Neill Whyte, head of product channels at Microgaming, discusses how to keep on top of the burgeoning tablet market. The tablet market is soaring at an exponential rate. Gartner forecasts that tablet shipments have increased a staggering 53.4 per cent from 2012 to 2013 and in total 184m tablets will be distributed in 2013. Just to emphasise the substantial growth year-on-year, projections show that this number will rise to 263m in just one year’s time! Whilst there is an obvious rise in the sale of tablet devices, it is important to note that mobiles and smartphones still dominate overall portable device sales, with more than 1.8bn units expected to be dispatched in 2013. So what does this all mean for online gaming? The entire mobile gaming market is estimated to be worth €6bn by the end of the year, with projections set to be more than double that by 2016. As such, the market is very important for operators and software suppliers; everyone is trying to take a slice of the pie! The explosion of the mobile gaming market in recent years may have taken some by surprise, but we actually developed software for Mobile Casino back in 2004 as we knew the potential was huge. Over the years we’ve invested significant time and resource to develop our mobile product and we believe we have a market-winner. Our mobile and tablet product has been designed to meet the requirements of all operating systems namely Android, Windows and iOS systems. Take iOS 7 as an example, our games were compatible with the operating system on the day of its launch. We also ensure that our gaming content can be played anywhere, at any time, irrespective of the player’s choice of device. To do this we’ve developed games in an Adobe Air based application as well as in HTML5. Our suite of mobile games is increasing by the month and we’ve embarked on a rapid roll-out of new content to keep our operators’ players entertained. By the end of the year our HTML5 platform will have 42 games live and our Android Download App will have 29; that’s the largest number of games in the industry. Specifically for November, operators and their players can look forward to Thunderstruck II going live on HTML5 and our Playboy slot launching on our Android Download Casino. In addition to the ever-popular Casino games, we also offer Mobile Poker and Mobile Bingo, both of which provide seamlessly integrated content on any mobile or tablet device. Our Mobile content is also available through Quickfire, for operators requiring content integration only.”

“

MICROGAMING’S THUNDERSTRUCK II IS ABOUT TO GO LIVE ON HTML5

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B2B

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

INTRALOT INTERACTIVE

Universal solution to mobile platforms Intralot’s renowned Universal Gaming Experience now has a mobile specific module. uring last month’s EiG show in Barcelona, Intralot introduced its Universal Mobile to the gaming community, as part of its flagship Universal Gaming Experience, addressing a new era that emerges with the power of mobile technology in gaming. Universal Mobile features an innovative multi-platform approach, based on the latest HTML5 technology, adapted to seamlessly scale from the mobile phones and tablets up to the latest Intralot’s Gablet stations. It embraces modern User Experience design, introducing new concepts of interactivity with the player that combine text, data, game logic, graphic animation and streaming video; while elevating the responsive architecture to its true purpose of designing user-centric games. Universal Mobile seamlessly connects to the company’s Real Money Gaming Platform, as well as the new Social Gaming Platform that secures unique wallet, player and social graph features, and act as a focal point for an optimised and personalised player journey across all gaming verticals

and player touch points. Visitors to EiG had the opportunity to explore Universal Mobile in the three main verticals; Lottery, Sports Betting and Gaming, while experiencing the cross-platform adap-

tation of gaming features. Mobile Lottery is emerging and a novel experience has been created for all lottery games, such as keno double matrix game and scratches, among others. The player enjoys

info@bit8.com

gesture and overlay-based navigation, with direct thumb-driven access to relevant information, quick picks, favourites, but also personalisation that renders traditional lottery games a true entertainment experience. The latest editions of Intralot Interactive Instant Mobile Games enriched with vivid gaming content that combines proven game mechanics with graphical front ends, appeal to the lottery player, providing additional entertainment value and further increasing the lottery performance. Mobile Sports Betting constitutes undoubtedly the highest growth area of gaming. Intralot Interactive demonstrated its best-in-class HTML5 Mobile Sports application that supports the pre-match and live betting experience by providing quick access to sophisticated bet slip mechanics, supported by informative and relevant information tools. Users seamlessly connect to the company’s renowned i-FLEX Betting Platform, taking advantage of optimised in-running content management, and robust and efficient game engines.

www.bit8.com

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BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

Retail B2B Retail Listings

B2B content R et ai l

www.sis.tv info@sis.tv

B2B epos

Bridging the gap Greek firm Vermantia has launched Mobibet, which has been designed to bridge online, retail, and mobile betting. It provides bookmakers with mobile apps that use dedicated wi-fi points inside the betting shop. The app then delivers live streaming of content, odds and statistics to the LBO customers via their own smartphone or tablet.

R et ai l

CONTENT A deal between GBI Racing and the Israel Sports Betting Board has seen British and Irish racing break new ground.

B2B marketing R et ai l

THE NEW RACER BRAND IS SHOWING UK RACING

B2B publications R et ai l

making sense of the gaming industry

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Israel becomes major destination for British racing srael is set to become one of the biggest export markets for British and Irish racing after a deal between GBI Racing and Israel’s government-owned sports betting operator, Israel Sports Betting Board. Israel is a new market for horseracing so the bookmaker has started a multi-million dollar campaign to coincide with last month’s launch in the territory of GBI Racing’s internet betting service for UK and Irish horse racing and the roll out of its shops service to around 150 franchise outlets. GBI Racing launched its service in Israel on a test basis in August this year and UK and Irish racing has found immediate and growing appeal in the market since. Israeli punters will now for the first time be able to bet remotely on live horse racing using a purpose-built, Hebrew website developed for ISBB and the Israeli market by

GBI Racing and development partner, ineda. All horse race betting turnover in Israel, generated both through established retail outlets and the new online service, will be passed back into UK and Irish tote pools. GBI Racing secured a long-term agreement with ISBB in February 2012 following a competitive tender amongst international horse racing rights holders. ISBB issued the tender in June 2011 with the aim of gaining government approval to introduce horse racing simulcast as a new, licensed betting product in Israel. The government licence for horse race betting was granted in May 2012. ISBB invests 100 per cent of its profits in government-funded community projects that create and maintain sports facilities. Prior to ISBB’s launch of the GBI Racing service, sports betting in Israel, a market already worth around US$500m annually, was restricted by law to fixed odds operations

predominantly on football and basketball. James Singer, territory director at GBI Racing, said: “What’s happening in Israel is great news for horse racing and is a real case study for the world. ISBB has introduced thoroughbred racing to betting audiences as a completely new, exciting and dynamic sport under a new brand, with many exciting innovations such as purpose-built display systems in shops, touch screen data terminals, a dedicated Hebrew audio service and trained retail agents.” Zach Fishbein, chairman of the Israel Sports Betting Board, added: “Introducing horse race betting in Israel has been a major undertaking but it has been a pleasure to work with GBI Racing whose team has been very professional. I see great potential for ISBB and GBI Racing in the Israeli market and we will target 1bn shekels (£180m) annual turnover by year five.”

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racing at the BHA, said: “We have been pleased with the success of the trial of Tuesday twilight fixtures in September and October, when six fixtures produced promising field sizes and competitive racing.”

More support for greyhound channel etfred and Totepool have become the latest shareholders of the free-toair Racing Post Greyhound TV channel. The move consolidates Betfred and Totepool as supporters and sponsors of UK greyhound racing which will lead to transmission of the show across 1,370 Betfred retail premises and online at Betfred.com. Kevan Moretti, executive producer for Racing Post Greyhound TV, commented: “This is fantastic news as Betfred brings to Racing Post Greyhound TV two great brands with a unique ability through Totepool to power a new Greyhound Jackpot bet for the show. This is a win-win for viewers and shareholders. GTV Limited continues to grow as a company and a show; this deal signals a renewed long term commitment by all the shareholders to produce the very best weekly showcase for the sport on freeto-air television.”

VIRTUAL

Inspired launches ‘hyper-real’ virtual darts

irtual sports developer Inspired event taking three minutes in total. Gaming Group has launched the Inspired launched the new game at the industry’s first virtual darts game Bookmakers Trade Fair in Wolverhampton for sports betting operators. Inwhere darts pro Adrian Lewis, currently spired is the sole provider of virtual sports number 3 in the PDC league, promoted the and numbers games via 49s to the UK marnew product and challenged visitors to take ket since 2001 and is live in all UK bookmak- him on at live darts. Also on show was BetBOX - Inspired’s new Betting category for Tech ers with its popular Virtual Horse racing events called Portman Park, Steepledowns Bet Management System (BMS) that allows awards and Sprint Valley. any operators to take bets over the counter Inspired’s new Virtual Darts is a unique on all nine virtual sports as well as numbers he organisers of The Sports Technol- blend of real darts footage and CGI animagames such as Bingo, Lotto and Keno. Cruogy Awardshave revealed a new cate- tion. As with all of Inspired’s virtual sports, cially, it also allows operators to control their gory specifically for the gaming sector, ‘Best the fixed odds on the eight available markets own margins and schedule of virtual sports Use of Technology by a Bookmaker or Gam- are displayed during a preamble before the events to provide a constant stream of beting Company’. Rebecca Hopkins, director of event and the results are generated by a ran- ting content all day, every day or otherwise to the STAs, explained: “Sport, gambling and dom number generator (RNG) and displayed schedule the virtual events as fillers when its technology have become mutually impor- using hyper-reality CGI footage with the there are no real events available. tant to each other so it made sense to act on the comments we received. There is huge scope for this category, both in ways gambling companies can engage with the sports fans through ground-breaking technology but also how the sector has reacted positiveMetalwork supplied from our designs or your own. ly in driving technological advances in its bid to outsmart nefarious activity.” 7YV[V[`WL [OYV\NO [V WYVK\J[PVU (SS Ä UPZOLZ

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Racing to make Good Friday debut he British Horseracing Authority (BHA) will allow racing on Good Friday for first time in 2014 with meetings at Lingfield Park and Musselburgh. Traditionally a racing-free day, the BHA has bowed to pressure and added the two meetings to the 1,464-strong fixture list for 2014, comprising 881 flat and 583 jump fixtures. Chief executive Paul Bittar said: “The compilation of the Fixture List is an evolving process, and despite some of the constraints under which we operate, we are pleased with the advancements made for 2014. In particular, enhancements to the racing calendar such as the exciting addition of Good Friday racing, improvements to our principal days and the boost to racing on Sundays will all serve to further improve British Racing.”

Twilight racing continues IS Betting’s George Irvine has hailed the impact of twilight racing as the British Horseracing Board announced four more fixtures in November at Kempton Park and Wolverhampton. Irvine said: “We’ve had very positive feedback from LBOs to SIS showing twilight racing. It’s been proven very quickly that punters respond to having racing continuing in the shops when the afternoon programme finishes. It keeps LBO customers in the shops, as well as attracting others on their way home from work.” Ruth Quinn, director of

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EPOS Rollout of GTECH hardware amaica’s Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) has planned roll out of a new, high tech lottery terminals for the company’s distribution network. Initiated through a massive investment by SVL’s technology partner for lottery gaming GTech, the roll out will be implemented in three phases starting last month through to the year 2015. 125 of the GT1200 Altura terminals and modems will be installed this year. SVL’s vice president of group corporate communications Sonia Davidson said: “We will initially roll out the new terminals to our best performing agents, who have implemented the company’s best business practices. We will continue to roll out additional terminals to our entire network on a phased basis.”

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Sportsbook B2B Sportsbook Listings

Italian job B2B betting platform Kiron Interactive, in cooperation with Vermantia Media Group, has been awarded certification by Italian regulator AAMSfor its Virtual Gaming Platform, the first of its kind to be awarded in Italy. The certification follows a submission made by 765174%'& 21465 '66+0) 1.76+105 Intralot Italia and will become the first platform to commence testing in the recently regulated virtual games market. S po rt sb

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Taking the blended approach Andy Chalker, product owner at sportsbook technology supplier LVS, explains his firm’s approach to one of the fastest growing platforms.

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One of the main difficulties facing sportsbook providers is the blurring of the lines between traditional website, tablets and smartphone offerings. Essentially online betting can now be seen as having several distinct access methods, each requiring its own specifically tailored user experience. Firstly, we have traditional desktop internet which is well understood by providers and a mature website is generally already in existence. Secondly, we have tablet internet where the experience should be similar to the desktop site, but navigation is handled differently due to finger tapping, swiping etc. Thirdly, we have smartphone internet access, where we have even less real estate available, and even more gesture driven interfaces are required. To complicate matters further, we also now have ‘phablets’ sitting somewhere in between tablets and smartphones. Finally, we have native applications downloaded from app stores, where players expect further enhancement beyond a usual smart-

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phone or tablet site. The difficulty for software developers is in somehow giving the player an experience fully tailored to his device, but somehow avoiding the need for developing completely separate systems each with their own expense, and each needing to be kept in line with each other regarding the features underneath the presentation layer. LVS believe a blended approach is the best method of solving the problem. Our “Apollo” web framework allows for the easy interchange of widgets which are used when building the site. Therefore once the browser and screen size are identified, an intelligent decision is made as to what behaviour the widget should invoke, or even whether a different version of the widget altogether is required to display the information and control the interaction with the player. By exploiting the latest features of HTML5 within our widgets, we can also give the player a very slick experience. HTML5 also makes it easier for us to produce a native app whilst still sharing the same web development frame-

work. Where an HTML5 widget is of high enough quality to satisfy the needs of the app, then we essentially just wrap it, but when required we’ll hook directly into the native app library. This blended approach pays off by ensuring the players get the best experience, but also keeps costs down due to having a single codebase where widgets co-exist together. We also require only one content management system (CMS) which manages all of the different access methods in one easy to use tool. Bookmakers don’t need to employ different teams of people to manage the content across different access methods, nor do they need to employ technical people as the CMS has been designed from the outset to be used by marketing and content staff. The final, and perhaps biggest advantage, is that having one framework forces us to view all the different access methods with one holistic approach. They’re all different, yet players intuitively see them as part and parcel of the same betting experience, easily swapping between different devices.”

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FINANCIAL Tradologic looking for opportunities inary options trading platform provider Tradologic has appointed KMi Gaming to maximise opportunities in the betting and gaming industry, with a specific focus on the UK, Irish and wider European region. Tradologic was created in 2008 by professionals from the financial, online gaming and technology industries to provide a tailored platform with a simple integration. Ofri Noier, Tradologic head of business development, said: “Our many financial partners demonstrate the appeal of Tradologic and we have identified a significant, untapped demand in the more traditional sports betting and gaming space. With [their] unrivalled experience,

global network and reputation for success, we had no hesitation in turning to KMi Gaming to help us fully explore this.”

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Fantasy deal for Sportech PICTURE SUPPLIED BY ACTION IMAGES

Cash out style plug in Twiice Limited, a UK Gambling Commission-licensed sports-betting software application provider, has developed an innovative B2B product which provides bookmakers an all-inclusive solution to exploit the current fast-growing Cash Out trend through offering their players ‘Betting Insurance’. A tool for inplay markets, the insurance allows players to pay a premium to guarantee the pay out of their bet, giving punters the opportunity to cash in early or reduce their liabilities if the bet is looking to be unsuccessful. BTwiice offers bookmakers a revenue share on the use of insurance, allowing them to earn additional revenue. BTwiice, which competed in EiG’s Start-Up LaunchPad last month, recently appointed industry veteran Lee Richardson as a non-executive director.

Sportech PLC and fantasy sports game developer Picklive have created a joint venture to launch Picklive USA - an innovative new gaming product targeting the rapidly growing US fantasy sports market, worth an estimated $2bn. Picklive USA will be distributed nationwide and will leverage Sportech’s extensive reach in the US, where it currently processes 50 per cent of all horseracing bets. The new fantasy games will extend Sportech’s product offering beyond horseracing to a vast sports market, including US professionalleague football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. Picklive will be accessible to Sportech’s existing customer base in Connecticut as well as to its B2B customers through eBet, Sportech’s US online division, which operates over 20 horserace betting websites. The new fantasy games will be launched next year in Connecticut following the commercial launch of MyWinners.com, Connecticut’s only legal online betting, which is expected before the end of this year. Further

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distribution opportunities will be made available by utilising Sportech’s customer base across the United States. Sportech sees the opportunity to bring the ‘social’ experience into the fantasy sports space, and aims for Picklive USA to be the ultimate second-screen entertainment and social experience during live sport. Sportech CEO Ian Penrose said: “This transaction further develops our increasing online presence in the rapidly growing US market. With Sportech’s strong heritage in sports gaming and strong relationship base, the daily fantasy sports market is a natural potential growth area for us, and I am excited by Picklive USA’s potential to become a major player in this space.” Picklive CEO David Galan added: “Picklive has already enjoyed great success in the UK and this opportunity allows us to bring product innovation and the ‘social’ element into the daily fantasy sports space in the U.S. and become a primary second-screen entertainment destination and social experience to accompany live sport.”

Betradar’s New Live Channel Be prepared for the next generation of live sports for your retail betting shop.

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iGaming Time to rock Stonehenge provides the backdrop of Net Entertainment’s latest video slot Secret of the Stones where players are challenged to unlock the mysteries of a stone garden. The ancient setting is populated by druids roaming the hills of Western Europe and features 5reels, 3-rows, Wild substitutions and Free Spins.

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William Hill is taking on a selection of top desktop and mobile titles from Net Entertainment. Chief of GMO and MD Net Entertainment Malta Björn Krantz said: “The agreement with William Hill solidifies the trust and confidence our partners have in our operational and technical leadership.”

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Net Entertainment has also launched Magic Portals on its expanding Touch catalogue. “Magic Portals can now be enjoyed by players on mobile while they make their own exciting journeys,” comments Simon Hammon, chief product officer of Net Entertainment.

The Starburst video slot by Net Entertainment has been complemented by a smaller, playanywhere version called Starburst Mini. It features Starburst Wilds which appear on reels 2, 3 or 4 expanding over the entire reel and remain in place for up to three re-spins, at no extra cost.

SLOTS

Transformational new IGT slot The partnership between IGT and Hasbro has been a successful one for many years now and the latest licence looks likely to continue that trend. ransformers Battle for Cybertron is the newest online real money slot from IGT’s successful license relationship with Hasbro and includes instantly recognisable animations of some of the most-loved robots from the globally-popular Transformers entertainment franchise. The 40-line, five reel, high-energy slot is packed with innovative mystery and bonus features. IGT’s FreeFall Symbols feature allows multiple wins from a single spin as winning symbols disappear and are replaced with new ones, cascading from above. After any

spin, Transformers characters may appear and explode away further symbols, unleashing even more wild and bonus-triggering symbols. In the Free Spins Bonus, players can select a Transformers character to match their style of play: Megatron and Optimus Prime offer bigger multipliers, while Shockwave and Bumblebee offer more free spins. Leigh Nissim, IGT commercial director of interactive, commented: “Our relationship with Hasbro enables us to produce some of the most sought after online real money slots and Transformers Battle for Cybertron has all the ingredients required to become a top-performing IGT title. Players will love the interaction with their favourite Transformers characters, as well as the combination of amazing visuals and sounds with the innovative, high-energy game play.” Meanwhile, in a recent survey conducted by IGT’s social gaming operation DoubleDown Casino, over 10,000 casual gamers helped identify why the social casino games

are gaining in popularity. • 25 per cent said social casinos were unique among other casual gaming options for keeping the gaming experience fresh. • The wide selection of games and frequently updated content were important to gamers seeking new forms of entertainment and when choosing between social casino sites. • 19 per cent said the look and feel of a real casino was of high entertainment value. • When deciphering the quality of a gaming experience, serious and casual gamers prioritise graphics, load times and game variety. Social casino games were approached with the same expectations but overall the experience was based on whether players felt like they were in a real casino. • 31 per cent said they preferred to play slot games and many were drawn to games they recognized from real casinos. • Many gamers were drawn to slot

games they recognise from real casinos. The bright, colourful images of the slot games and casino sounds, such as coins falling, added to the experience. Gamers liked social casinos with the widest selection of classic and new slot games. IGT’s Double Down Casino has just introduced another Hasbro licence - it has launched Monopoly Plus. Players will experience the iconic Monopoly gameplay when moving around the board, plus see captivating iconic game pieces fill the screen and Mr. Monopoly appear in bonus rounds. “At DoubleDown Casino we are innovators, constantly seeking out new and exciting ways to deliver thrilling game experiences to our players,” said John Clelland, vice president of global marketing at IGT Interactive Group. “Adding the Monopoly brand to our already great library of content is a huge win for players. Now Monopoly fans can enjoy continuous play of one of the world’s most popular games wherever and whenever they want.”

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SLOTS Williams portfolio on Bet365 illiams Interactive’s library of authentic Vegas-style slots is now accessible to players on Bet365. Orrin Edidin, CEO and president of Williams Interactive, commented: “Providing our player-favourite slot games through one of the top providers of iGaming experiences in the world further validates the appeal of our innovative game engines, playerfavourite brands and premium licensed content. We’re confident that patrons of Bet365 will be amazed by the range of unique slot game experiences available, and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Bet365 providing their players the world’s most compelling gaming experiences.”

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Microgaming adds three more icrogaming has extended its casino games portfolio with the addition of three new video slots: Dolphin Quest, Rhyming Reels - Georgie Porgie and Paradise Found. All three are available on Microgaming’s Flash and Quickfire platforms, with Dolphin Quest and Rhyming Reels - Georgie Porgie also available on the download platform. Mike Hebden, head of games at Microgaming, commented: “Our game development team works tirelessly to create new and exciting slots for players to enjoy, and these new games are a great example of this. Players have very high expectations for Microgaming games, and our new additions will certainly not disappoint.”

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Fruit Farm launch for Mecca Bingo ecca Bingo has launched Greentube’s popular game Fruit Farm simultaneously on Mecca’s Novoline Interactive Slot offerings as well as online at www.meccabingo.com. It is planned that even more games will be added to Mecca’s gaming portfolio later this year, which means that a total of 29 Greentube games such as Cash Farm, Pharaoh's Tomb, Rumpel Wildspins and many more will bring extra value to Mecca’s players. Tomislav Autischer, head of sales and marketing for Greentube, stated: “Mecca is one of the frontrunners in the UK bingo industry and we are pleased to see that Mecca and Greentube continue to reach new goals together. Both companies are extremely committed to introducing quality entertainment to the British market and we are very excited about this launch

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making sense of the gaming industry and the positive development of our cooperation.” Alex Franklin, head of games for Mecca Digital, stated: “Novomatic are one of the few suppliers who can offer us cross channel products and with Fruit Farm we believe that we have another fantastic game on our hands. We are looking forward to offering the game to our customers who we know will enjoy it both at our Bingo clubs and online at meccabingo.com.”

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PARADISE FOUND

MOBILE Jackpot transfers to mobile ackpot Capital Casino has introduced its first million dollar jackpot slot game to its new mobile casino. Aztec’s Millions, one of the most popular games made by Real Time Gaming, is now available in a special format optimized for iPhone and iPad users. A second million dollar jackpot game, Jackpot Pinatas, is expected to launch later this month. Currently over $1.5m, Aztec’s Millions is one of the largest online casino jackpots available. Jackpot Capital Casino offers a selection of over 300 games in its online casino and now seven are available in its mobile casino: Enchanted Garden, Builder Beaver, Cleopatra’s Gold, Caesar’s Empire, Goldbeard, Coyote Cash and Aztec’s Millions.

POKER Nugget of a deal maya Gaming Grouphas entered into an agreement to provide technology, including a poker platform and casino content, and poker services for goldennuggetpoker.com and goldennuggetcasino.com, the online gaming brands of Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, subject to all applicable licensing and regulatory approvals. Under the terms of the Agreement, Amaya would receive a share of the revenue generated from the Brands, subject to necessary regulatory requirements. Thomas Winter, vice president online gaming of Landry’s, Inc., which operates Golden Nugget, said: “Amaya provides proven online casino games and a poker platform that deliver precisely what we need. Through this partnership we can supply exceptional and secure online entertainment, supported by the strong brand of our land-based casinos.”

fold speed poker network, meaning when players fold a hand they are moved to a new table within seconds. The InstaDeal PETER KARROLL Speed Poker game deals a new set of cards the instant a player folds, eliminating waiting between hands and any opportunity for collusion. “The move to InstaDeal made perfect sense, as it gives players a better allround poker experience with no risk of collusion and the chance to play more hands,” said Peter Karroll, CEO of Olympian Group.

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PLATFORM First Tanzanian operator deal uickfire, powered by Microgaming, is providing its gaming content to the first online casino and games operator approved and regulated by the Tanzanian government. Dunia, a new online gaming site operating under the brand iplay8, is now live on the Quickfire platform. With the addition of Tanzania, Africa’s first regulated online gaming market, Quickfire now provides its gaming solutions to 24 licensed jurisdictions. Costa Giannakopoulos, director of Dunia, commented: “This is a completely new venture for us therefore it was important that we partnered with a reliable and highly experienced gaming provider. We couldn’t be more delighted with our decision to choose Quickfire; they have been a critical component in the development of our online business.”

Olympian moves quickly lympian Group’s online gaming brands have joined InstaDeal, the innovative fast-fold poker network. The GEObet.com, Bulldog777.com and GR88.com brands have all moved to the popular fast-

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Biometric scale Optimal Payments and Daon have entered into an agreement to work together strategically on solutions that will leverage Daon’s biometric authentication system with Optimal’s Net-Banx Data base and Isle of Man-based hosting and full Neteller service provider Manx Telecom is payment building a new £10m data centre. services. The three phase project will result in a new purpose-built Tier 3 data centre located near to Manx Telecom’s headquarters in Douglas.

Ardalan promotion GeoComply has promoted general manager Valli Ardalan to the position of chief operating officer for GeoComply USA. The firm has just signed a deal with next generation iGaming business Pala Interactive LLC as its geolocation solution provider for the US market.

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Irish PM opens Continent 8 centre Major expansion from Continent 8 in both Ireland and at home on the Isle of Man has seen the firm continue to develop its global portfolio. ontinent 8 Technologies’ ninth facility worldwide has been officially opened in Dublin by the Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, in the company of Michael Tobin, CEO of Continent 8 Technologies. This facility will be also be home to Continent 8’s EMEA Service Operations Centre (SOC). Continent 8 Technologies is focused on the delivery of market-defining internet technologies, products and services to the global online gaming industry; providing companies with secure and reliable facilities from which to host their online operations. While the official opening only just took place, Continent 8 had been installed, operational and servicing customers in Dublin for over five months prior. Michael Tobin, CEO of Continent 8, stated: “When Continent 8 decided to invest in Ireland and expand our global data centre footprint we looked for a facility that had

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comprehensive and diverse connectivity, whilst deploying the latest in data centre cooling technologies to drive overall efficiency for our customers. This facility allows us to deliver on these requirements and continue to develop our global portfolio of managed services and solutions to the online gaming industry.” Meanwhile, Continent 8 Technologies has also completed a major expansion of its Isle of Man data centre. The hosting provider, which has been headquartered on the island since 2006, has increased the capacity of the facility as part of its diversification strategy and in order to reach growing demand. Having been successful in delivering data centre services including Co-location, Managed Services, Distributed Denial of Service protection, Disaster Recovery, MPLS services and Content Delivery to online gaming companies across the world for more than 15 years, Continent 8 now

plans to use its proven expertise to reach out to new sectors. Head of product Stephen Trimble commented: “The data centre upgrade, alongside an aggressive product development roadmap, is key to showing that not only is Continent 8 truly global, but we are also investing heavily in and committed to the Isle of Man.” The upgrade programme has seen the company double the capacity of its state-ofthe-art data centre on the island and bring new people on board. Using its recently opened data centre in Dublin as a blueprint, a key element of the Isle of Man upgrade is the introduction of fresh air cooling, via a dedicated air handing unit (AHU). Trimble explained: “The Isle of Man is the ideal climate for this type of super-efficient cooling system given that, in general, outside air is cooler than the temperature required in the data centre.”

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BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013 Editor: Andrew McCarron Email: am@sjc.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1457 867 683 Managing editor: Ken Scott Email: ks@sjc.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1273 699 900

Advertising sales: Neil Judson, Email: njudson@gbmedia.eu Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748 Ad Production: Dave Roderick Email: gdk@sjc.co.uk

Contributors: John Samuels, James Walker, Alex Lee

PAYMENTS Everi to get STACK lobal Cash Access’ Everi suite of payment products are to be introduced into the GameAccount Network GameSTACK iGaming platform to offer gaming operators a secure, interactive platform and payments solution. GAN and GCA are combining their expertise to offer interactive solutions for online gaming and secure payments processing, thereby by providing a single point of integration and affording operators the ability to provide iGaming alternatives to patrons. “We are excited to embark on this strategic alliance in order to give our common customers and players peace of mind throughout their entire interactive gaming experience,” noted Tim Richards, GM and SVP of Interactive Solutions at GCA.

Sky extends DataCash deal ataCash, a MasterCard company, has extended its ten year partnership with Sky Betting and Gaming. The agreement sees a DataCash solution implemented across all payment channels including eCommerce and direct credits processed through their successful website and mobile applications. Sky Betting and Gaming has renewed the partnership because of the long heritage DataCash has in providing payment processing in innovative indus-

Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748 Subscriptions: Sarah Haworth, Email: shaworth@gbmedia.eu Editorial & Production: Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 20 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UF, UK Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748 Tel: +44 (0) 1273 699 900 Advertising & Subscriptions: Publishing Director: GB Media Corporation Ltd John Sullivan Bolton Technology Exchange Email: jsullivan@gbmedia.eu 33 Queensbrook, Bolton BL1 4AY, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 Tel: +44 (0) 1204 396 397 Fax: +44 (0) 1204 392 748

tries including gaming, retail and across new and growing platforms such as mobile and connected TV. Karen Elenor at Sky Betting and Gaming commented: “With DataCash we have been able to grow our business and offer new ways for customers to enjoy our services in a safe and secure way.”

PayCorp diversification ayments solutions business Pay Corporation, part of Boxhill Technologies PLC, has signed an agreement with CRM software business Bright Office, further extending its reach outside of the gaming and lottery sectors. PayCorp will provide Bright Office’s PPI customers with a range of solutions for the processing of customer payments including bank transfers, credit and debit card payments and an integrated payments wallet. “A significant number of Bright Office’s clients require payment services which fall outside the scope of traditional payment services providers. We have safe, secure and flexible payments products that will directly help Bright Office clients and their customers,” said Phil Jackson, chief executive of Boxhill Technologies PLC, the owners of PayCorp.

Opinions expressed in this publication should not be regarded as the official view of GB Media Corporation Ltd, except where stated. Views, opinions and recommendations contained in this publication are put forward for consideration only. No action should be taken in reliance upon any such views, opinions or recommendations. Neither GB Media Corporation Ltd nor contributors accept any responsibility for any loss occasioned to any person howsoever caused or arising as a result of or in consequence of action taken or refrained from in realiance on the contents of this publication.

Notes for contributors: BBi welcomes the submission of articles for consideration by the editor with a view to publication. Submission of an article will be held to imply that the article contains original unpublished work which GB Media Corporation Ltd may lawfully publish. All submissions are made at the owner’s risk. © GB Media Corporation Ltd, 2013 All rights strictly reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission given, full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given.

ITALY

Microgame deal a monumental step for NYX

IT Spreadex in the cloud preadex will be able to safeguard the online experience for customers by deploying a new private cloud platform based on HP technologies. The private cloud solution, which incorporates 40 terabytes of storage, was selected, sourced and implemented in partnership with Computacenter in a deal worth £1.2m. David Farlam, infrastructure analyst at Spreadex, commented: “The new private cloud environment will give us the scalability and stability we need to support our business as it continues to

YX Gaming Grouphas launched into the Italian regulated market together with its first client Microgame, a leading service provider in the Italian remote gaming market. David Flynn, SVP business development at NYX Gaming Group, said: “This is a monumental step for NYX to take its OGS product into the Italian market. I am thrilled to see our first Italian wager through the OGS system. To take this step together with one of the leading Providers in the Italian market is truly phenomenal.” Flynn continued: “Microgame has been at the centre of gaming in Italy since its birth in

1996. In only one year NYX OGS has become the games platform of choice for many tier one operators such as Microgame and this launch further increases our reach into regulated markets in which we provide this product.” Marco Castaldo, general manager for Microgame, commented: “NYX Gaming Group’s games are growing on our platform since the launch and we look forward to broadening the offer. By adding NYX OGS to our existing portfolio, Microgame further strengthens its leadership position with the most complete online casino product offering in the Italian market.”

grow.” Computacenter’s Neil Eke added: “The private cloud will provide Spreadex with rapid and robust disaster recovery capabilities, which will help prevent service outages on its trading and betting platforms.” SPREADEX IS TO DEPLOY A NEW PRIVATE CLOUD PLATFORM

Gibraltar Data Centre Simply Rock Solid

continent8.com www.continent8.com

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Comment ACTION IMAGES / MATTHEW CHILDS LIVEPIC

The consensual revolution

andrew mccarron viewpoint he latest code for bookmakers to follow in order to make sure our streets aren’t overrun by rioting punters in a betting frenzy over the latest corrupt event caused by problem gambling on a gaming machine is actually quite a refreshing one. Despite the fact that its very existence no doubt allowed the government to take a deep breath and say no to the campaigners who have been frothing at the mouth for a reduction in B2 stakes down to £2, it also revisited a concept that the politics of gambling seems to avoid these days - treating people like adults. The main thrust of the changes that bookmakers are introducing is to give their customers as much information on their own behaviour as possible and let them make their own decision. It’s a shame that this approach actually seems revolutionary. It probably won’t help some problem gamblers, who would encounter problems in any environment, be it in an LBO playing a machine or sat with friends playing heads or tails. Those people need acute clinical help. What the new code will hopefully do is catch people on the precipice and allow them to check their own behaviour before going ahead. 30 seconds might not seem a long time, but it’s certainly long enough for the opportunity to carry out some introspection. Try it now. You’d be surprised at how much mental ground you can cover in such a ‘short time’. Whether these measures will allow punters to be perceived as fully consenting adults remains to be seen, although politicians do enjoy a top down approach when it comes to gambling. Las Vegas casinos have always been notorious for manipulating players to make sure they continue to pump those quarters into gaming machines by using environmental cues such as lighting, smells and sounds. The infor-

mation gleaned from decades of questionable practices in Nevada though has also provided us with information on the opposite how to slow down people’s gambling activities. How long would it be before campaigners demand these be implemented into the latest machines in order to curtail the prospect of problem gambling. This approach, as seductive as non-intervention gambling soothing factors may sound, should be avoided at all costs. It is player manipulation, pure and simple. Worse still it is underhand manipulation and should have no part of a gambling industry which aims for transparency and an adherence to facts. As anyone who witnessed the latest debate on the future of the high street would have noted, facts are not necessarily a pre-requisite for political views however. The number of MPs convinced that betting shops encourage anti-social behaviour, despite the lack of any evidence, was disappointingly high. Dame Joan Ruddock, MP for Lewisham, was particularly in touch with reality, directly attributing the number of betting shops on the high street in her constituency to ‘an increase in drug dealing, drunkenness, abusive behaviour, begging and intimidation’. She topped it off by concluding: “The character of our high street has been seriously damaged by the behaviour of people using those facilities.” Or if you read between the lines: people who enjoy betting are scumbags. It’s an interesting approach to take, especially if, as it seems, a good percentage of her constituents actually enjoy betting and a number of them are employed in the sector. Clearly, that kind of person wouldn’t have voted for her? The biggest problem that politicians have, of course, with betting shops is that they are so damn visible. Had the bookmakers just quietly gone about their business of offering gaming facilities online, then everyone could have gone about playing high stake/unlimited prize slot games on their mobiles while the politicians debate why there are even fewer occupied units on the high street, fewer jobs and less community. Now that reality doesn’t sound anything like as good a strapline for the anti-campaigners.

32 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

Being at odds with

In his series of articles highlighting best practice among bookm believes that betting exchanges can adapt how they display od any betting exchanges generally appear to miss out on two methods to potentially increase their turnover: one, by employing more optimal strategies for refreshing prices in their price grids; and two, by exploiting natural human responses to information on which prices have substantially ‘steamed’ or significantly ‘drifted’. Betting exchanges normally present their wares using two main techniques: the display of a price grid by showing, for each selection, the available prices and liquidity; and a regular refresh of the prices and liquidity. Customer interest in seeing price updates is clearly going to be strongly correlated to the number of bets per hour being placed on the market. Using the simple concept of utility, refresh rates could be

dynamic - based on the number of bets being offered/taken and/or the time to the scheduled start of the event. Currently each exchange has its own, mostly simple approach, to refreshing prices on the users screen. As an example, Betfair seem to update the prices by default every 30 seconds, when the user submits a bet, or when the user clicks the refresh button. Those punters who have a specific requirement for a refresh frequency that more reflects their particular needs are obliged to buy a betting robot which permits a clear user choice of refresh frequency. A better approach might be to only occasionally refresh when few bets are being placed and then employ more rapid refreshes when many bets are being submitted/ matched and user interest is

EXCHANGES COULD ADAPT HOW OFTEN THEY UPDATE THEIR PRICES ACCORDING TO DEMAND

greatest. Perhaps the hardware resources of the exchange are being over-employed by updating the price grids for users viewing football matches commencing in over two days’ time and horse races off in over 3 hours’ time. And maybe they are under-employed updat-

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“I told my manager yesterday that if Harry plays I wouldn’t be coming back. I’ve retired one year early. I have come home now and will not be going back. Not bad for a daft bet.” Peter Edwards, who had bet £50 on his grandson one day playing for Wales, at odds of 2,500/1 with William Hill. 16-year-old Harry Wilson came on as a substitute against Belgium.

ILLEGAL BETTING SHOPS WERE AN ASPECT OF ‘PEAKY BLINDERS’

Feeling the heat at half the stake John Samuels, case manager at arbitration service IBAS, tackles the oddly misunderstood case of settling dead heat results. thought it time that I take some time out from my usual subject of banging on about betting rules and their application when disputes arise and instead offer some views on a subject that featured in the trade press recently - the settlement of bets on dead heats. We will no doubt all remember the recent wellpublicised story when a racecourse judge called the wrong result to an evening horse race. A dead-heat was declared when in fact the photo showed that one of the horses was clearly, if marginally, in front of the other. And the subject of dead heats has often been the cause of other arguments in betting circles for other reasons. One can often hear betting shop barrack-room lawyers saying ‘Oh yes, I know all about that, if there’s a dead-heat you get half the odds, so for your 4/1 dead heat you will get 2/1 from the bookie’. Only recently I have even seen some, whom I had considered to be more enlightened and intelligent racing journalists, suggest that bookmakers should indeed settle dead- heat bets at half the odds to the full stake! However, as we should know, Tattersalls Rule 7 clearly confirms that, in a dead heat situation, it is half the stake that is applied to the full odds. And there is a

with the customers

ACTION IMAGES / SCOTT HEAVEY

mong bookmakers, retired business consultant Ric Ingram display odds to customers.

ing football matches off in the next two hours and horse races scheduled to start in the next ten minutes. One further consideration is that most people will be confused if prices change too rapidly. So an updating policy more frequent than say once a

second might distract rather than assist the user. However, appropriate refreshes of price and liquidity changes may provide a sense of urgency with a consequent increase in betting activity. So what is stopping betting exchanges from saving some demand for computer server resources making unnecessary updates at non-peak times, while improving the service provided to their users at periods of greatest interest? Similarly, many punters like betting on selections that have significantly reduced in price (steamers) or have substantially increased in price (drifters). However, customers are not always given such information directly on the price grid as they are considering placing a bet. A definition of a steamer or drifter might be, for example,

selections which have altered in price by say 10 per cent in the last hour. Betfair - to its credit - provides a graph of the price history made available by clicking a graph symbol against each selection. However, to find those selections that are a drifter or steamer requires significant proactive effort by the user. Direct indication on the price grid on which selections have steamed or drifted significantly in the recent past may generate additional transactions by punters. A solution to this might be betting exchanges displaying the percentage change over an agreed period at the end of the name of each selection on the price grid perhaps using perhaps a two colour code. A simple interface like this could well provide an extra call to action to the customer and boost revenues.

world of difference between this and settling the bet at full stake to half the odds. One can see that, for example, £60 on a 4/6 winner that dead-heats, using Tattersall’s correct method, results in £30 (half of the stake) being put onto the 4/6 dead-heat winner, which thus gives a return of £50. This is, as some would incorrectly have it, opposed to having the full stake of £60 put on at half the (4/6) odds, which gives £60 @ 2/6 (1/3) = £80. As those in the industry know, there are good reasons for the method as outlined in Tattersall’s Rule 7, all relating to the overround percentage of the betting book. As one can see from the above example, if there was a two runner race, and both horses went off at 4/6 and both dead-heated, a bookmaker who took say £60 on each selection (giving a total take on the race of £120) would have to pay out a total of £160 (£80 to each winning customer) if the barrack- room lawyer method was employed. Who would be a bookmaker given this scenario? At the risk of being seen to backtrack everything above, it is an interesting point that the decimal prices used by remote operators (and others) these days does make the barrack room lawyers, unknowingly, partly correct. Allow me to explain. For reasons that maybe a mathematician would probably be able to explain, if one did halve the decimal price for the winner(s), and apply the full stake, the result would be the same as applying half the stake to the full odds (not decimal price). For example, odds of say 4/5 have a decimal equiva-

lent of 1.80. And if one had a bet of £1 on a 4/5 dead heat the return would be 90p. If one halves the 1.80 decimal price and applied the full £1 stake to the new decimal price of 0.90 the return would still be 90p. Similarly odds of 5/2 have a decimal price equivalent of 3.5. A £1 bet on a 5/2 dead heat gives a return of £1.75. If one halves the decimal price of 3.5 one gets a new decimal price of 1.75, which also results in a £1 stake returning 1.75p.Try some others yourself and see. The aforementioned betting shop barrack-room lawyers have been around for many years, not just since the days of the early 60’s when betting shops were legalised, but also throughout the 1800’s when betting shops existed as ‘list houses’, before they were banned late in the 19th century. The term list houses comes from the practise of the owners of such establishments displaying the list of the day’s runners on the wall of the betting premises. Read all about it in my book ‘Down the Bookies’. This banning of list houses did not affect the betting public for too long though, as illegal street bookmakers soon sprang up and, as early as the 1920’s, some would have it that there were even illegal ‘speakeasy’ betting shops. Illegal betting shops was a highlighted topic in the BBC TV series ‘Peaky Blinders’, where I was asked by the makers of the programme to provide some advice on the operational side of betting shops. It was an interesting few days on set, albeit some poetic licence was used in order to help the illegal betting shop side of the story add some spice to the drama.

BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013 33

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Business GALA CORAL HAS BEEN LINKED TO A £250M SELL OFF OF ITS BINGO ESTATE

corporate

appointments

he Paf board has promoted Anders Sims to director of comTagement munications, and he will now be a part of the company’s mangroup. Sims replaces Inger Holmström, who has reached the Swedish retirement age, although she will continue to work with the Åland-based gaming company. Sims commented: “At Paf, the company philosophy is that the company will grow by letting contributors grow within the company. During the time I’ve worked here, Paf has grown in many ways. Having learned from Inger and many other colleagues, I now feel ready to take on more responsibility within Paf.” ANDERS SIM

has strengthened its trading team by bringing in Mike BouslyetTech Shea from leading operator Sportingbet. Shea was previhorse racing trading supervisor at Sportingbet and held

Bingo sale could leave Coral clear for IPO Gala Coral has been linked with selling off its bingo arm ahead of a 2014 flotation. INVESTMENT

ambling giant Gala Coral is thought to be planning a divestment of its underperforming Gala Bingo business ahead of a potential stock market flotation of its remaining bookmaking business next year. Reports in the media suggest that the group plans on auctioning off its bingo business, which consists of 138 bingo clubs and an online bingo operation and represents almost half the UK bingo market, for a suggested £250m to clear the decks for an IPO with a more streamlined bookmaking theme. However, the bingo sector is in the doldrums at the moment, with even Gala Coral managing director Simon Wykes suggesting that it wasn’t the best investment in the world. According to the FT, Wykes

said investors should steer clear of the sector ‘unless [they] had a huge amount of capital and didn’t mind paying over the top’. Indeed, earnings for Gala Bingo are reported to have dropped by more the a fifth in the quarter to the beginning of July performance which has been attributed to the good weather resulting in less people attending bingo halls. Gala recently sold off the majority of its casino interests to rival Rank Group, which picked up 19 of Gala’s 23 UK casinos for £179m. Due to competition concerns on the transaction, Gala has retained four casinos in the UK (Aberdeen, Bristol, Cardiff and Teeside) and its multi-gaming complex in Gibraltar. The recent financial activity appears to underline the desire of Gala Coral’s current backers to

exit from the business. Many of Gala’s investors (including Apollo Management, Cerberus Capital Management, Park Square Capital and York Capital Management) were dragged into shareholdings when the company was in danger of collapsing under a £2.5bn debt pile in 2010 and exchanged their owed debt for equity. With Gala Coral’s bookmaking business the most attractive part of the company’s portfolio at the moment, it is little wonder that the stakeholders are exploring the possibility of a £2bn flotation in order to recoup some of their investment. The advantage for the Coral bookmaking business (and the Italian Eurobet operation) would be a management team focused solely on betting matters and, presumably, with some capital for further investments of its own.

Weekend advertising boost

34 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

acecourse Media Group has recruited Adam Binns as the R new director of broadcast and production. Currently head of WTA Media at Perform, Binns brings 17 years of experience from the media and communications sectors to the role. He said: “RMG and its shareholders have developed a very successful media rights business focussed on the delivery of a high-quality racing product. There is a great broadcast and production team in place at RMG, backed by excellent technical resources. I am very excited about realising their full potential, growing revenues and engaging a wider audience on more platforms than ever before.” ADAM BINNS

he Responsible Gambling Trust has appointed Alan ArmTcareer strong as its new director of fundraising. Having started his as a casino croupier in 1979, Armstrong has spent the best part of three decades working across a number of roles for leading companies within the gambling industry including, Pleasurama plc, Mecca plc and more recently for Grosvenor Casinos and the Rank Group plc. Chief executive Marc Etches commented: “Last year we raised £5.7m from the British gambling industry. We have reached £5m in the first six months of this year and our target is £6m. However, if we are to sustain this level of fundraising and achieve our long-term aspiration of raising it to £7m annually, we need to be more proactive in our approach and Alan will help us to be just that.” Armstrong at the Responsible Gambling Trust is Peter Jplc,oining Brooks, president and chief operating officer of Genting UK who has become a trustee and company director. Brooks said: “The Responsible Gambling Trust has put in place robust governance arrangements including appointing wholly independent trustees. However, it is equally important to ensure that the industry has full confidence in the charity and its objectives, and I very much hope that my experience of the British gambling industry in particular will be helpful in this regard.” larion Events, the company behind ICE Totally Gaming and C the EiG Expo among others, has a new marketing director in the form of senior events specialist Jo Mayer. She has over 18-

ADVERTISING

onsumers are 7 per cent more likely to click on a display ad during the weekend, with a significant rise on Saturday and Sunday compared to the rest of the week. At the same time, the average cost for online advertising at the weekend was found to be lowest, around 12 per cent lower than during the week.

roles at Hollywood Sports Book and World Betting Exchange. The South African will play a vital role in the development of the company’s flagship product, BetTech Sports, and devise and oversee trading strategies for clients of the recently-released Fully Managed Solution (FMS). “I come from a sporting family and with my father being a jockey I’ve got horse racing in the blood,” said Shea.” My career in betting and gaming has taken me from South Africa to the UK and the Channel Islands. Now I am very excited to be back home and part of the BetTech team that is revolutionising the industry.”

The findings are revealed in Adform’s Quarterly Media Barometer which measures consumer trends and engagement with online display advertising. Overall, Adform’s Quarterly Media Barometer also revealed that brands raised their real-time bidding (RTB) advertising spend by 92 per cent through the summer.

This is despite the rising costs from publishers, who saw their CPMs increased by 30 per cent across the quarter. The figures also show that consumers spent longer engaging with online advertising during the summer, with engagement rates up by 14 per cent and the average engagement time an impressive 12 seconds.

years marketing experience delivering major events including the award winning Ecobuild. She said: “In the UK exhibition industry ICE, in particular, is recognised as being amongst an elite group of best of breed international events and I’m naturally delighted to be working on February’s event in addition to the other gaming brands in what is an expanding portfolio.” JO MAYER

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Agenda ACTION IMAGES / ED SYKES

LISTINGS

Ante Post: What the bookies say With a world cup on the agenda, Rugby League is a high profile sport in the UK this November. ith the Jumps season getting into full swing, the focus will be on the Paddy Power Chase at Cheltenham on 16 November. Having seen him on the gallops recently, I can report that Champion Court is in great order and off his mark of 157, he will be competitive. 14/1 is a fair each-way price. Looking at the indoor events, I believe Dave ‘Chizzy’ Chisnall is worth backing in the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts. The recent Grand Prix runner-up is 16/1 with William Hill and he looks certain to break his duck in majors very shortly. The main green baize action will come at York with the William Hill UK Open Championships. Ding Junhui is in great form and has won this title twice, so he will do for me in the York event. In the ATP Tour Finals in London,

have a small play on Tomas Berdych. His best form has come indoors in 2013 and he can surprise in an event where the market leaders may struggle for motivation. RICHARD THOMAS Head of PR operations William Hill

November is traditionally a great month for bookmakers and punters to do battle, and this year is no exception, with a wide range of sports to whet the appetite. In horseracing the jumps season kicks into life with the Hennessy on the 30 November always a popular race in the calendar. In football, Man Utd v Arsenal on the 10th will be a crucial match for both teams; is United’s crown slipping and can Arsenal continue their great start to the season? I suspect the draw will be the most favoured outcome. Later in the month the Mersey derby and Man City v Spurs will be big betting events. Both codes of Rugby have a busy international schedule, with the league World Cup climaxing on the 30th at Old Trafford; expect an Aussie v New Zealand final. Both teams have been well backed, although we’ve seen some patriotic

money for England in our Northern outposts! In Union the Autumn internationals will provide plenty of opportunities for our customers. Finally for insomniacs and cricket fans, the Ashes recommences down under, on 21 November. We hope to recoup some of our losses from England’s 3-0 summer victory. JULIAN KNIGHT Managing director Jennings Racing

enham. Our armchair expert Gavin Hastings will be giving our customers his expert analysis on who will prevail in all these exciting clashes The sport just keeps coming and Novak Djokovic will be gunning to cement his place as World No 1 with a victory at The ATP Finals. Unibet’s resident tennis expert Goran Ivanisevic also fancies him to win this one. One of the leading tournaments on the green baize, returns to York’s Barbican Theatre in late November. Rocket Ronnie is always a crowd pleaser and is being well backed to win the Snooker UK Championships, but I’d have a look at Mark Selby. England will travel to Australia for the return Ashes series between November 2013 and January 2014. Of course we’re all gunning for a repeat of the last series down under 3-1 in 2010-11. Sir Ian Botham will be providing our customers with his tips on who will triumph in each test and also providing his thoughts throughout the Ashes on Unibet.co.uk.

It’s fantastic to have a World Cup on our shores and we can’t wait at Unibet for the Rugby League World Cup to kick off. Australia start firm favourites, having won nine of the 13 World Cups. But New Zealand should not be discounted after shocking the Aussies 34-20 to win the Cup in 2008. England have the advantage of being on home soil again and with young talent like Sam Tomkins combining with the older heads of Kevin Sinfield maybe a England can get to The World Cup Final at the end of the month. Swapping codes; the Autumn Internationals will also start in November. And what a mouth ED NICHOLSON watering tie to kick off with: Head of UK product England hosting Australia at Twick- Unibet

BetTech Gaming’s Ian Barnes discusses a week in the life of a CTO

opment of BetTech Sports, our flagship product, which provides smaller sportsbook and casino operators the functionality to compete with the world’s largest bookmakers. However, there are a number of tasks that my team and I undertake each week to ensure optimum performance. These include: feature planning and updating to the system, prototyping new technology in order to improve customer experience, continuous monitoring of application metrics, debugging and finding causes of any

36 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

glitches, as well as forward planning of software rollouts and development schedules with the project manager and architecture team. I also oversee code commits to ensure code quality, chat to potential clients and perform software demos. Another big part of my role is attending and taking part at trade shows. In November I have the BIG Africa Summit 2013, at which I am a speaker alongside my colleague Anli Kotzé, our chief operating officer. The conference is exploring the impact of new

technologies on the gaming industry in what is a hugely exciting time for our continent and the wider market. Then thoughts will turn to ICE. We look forward to heading back to London 12 months on from making our international launch at last year’s conference. Since last February we’ve signed up a host of new partners at home and overseas, had BetTech nominated for a prestigious industry award, and we were recently awarded a National Manufacturers Licence in South Africa - it has been an amazing year for us.

NOVEMBER 4-5 Mobile and Tablet Gambling Summit, Hilton Tower Bridge, London 6-7 The Social Gambling Conference 2013, Dexter House, London 7 BISL Conference, Kia Oval, London 11 RGA AGM, The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London 12-13 Malta iGaming Seminar, Le Méridien St Julians, Malta 14-16 Macao Gaming Summit, Macao Venetian 18-20 Brasilian Gaming Congress, Rio de Janeiro 20-22 National Association for Gambling Studies Annual Conference, Crowne Plaza Coogee, Sydney Australia 21-22 African Gaming Conference 2013, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria 28 SBC Social, London 29 SBC Asia Social, Makati, Philippines

THE FEDERAL PALACE HOTEL IN LAGOS HOSTS THE AFRICAN GAMING CONFERENCE

DECEMBER 1 – 4 The Second Asia Pacific Conference on Gambling & Commercial Gaming Research (APCG2013), Kaohsiung, Taiwan 9-12 40th annual Global Symposium on Racing & Gaming, Westin La Paloma, Tucson 25 Christmas Day JANUARY 21-23 EAG International, ExCeL London 23-24 Mobile Games Forum (MGF), Dexter House, London, 23-24 Social Gambling Workshop, Dexter House, London, 23-24 Social Games & Virtual Goods Forum 2013

My Diary: Ian Barnes ike most of us working in the ever-changing world of betting and gaming, the fact that no two days - let alone weeks - are the same is one of the best aspects of the job. At BetTech Gaming that is especially the case. We are a global business, supplying premium technology solutions to gaming companies, so are always looking ahead of the curve. And being headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, gives us a different, fresh perspective on the industry. As CTO, I am responsible for the delivery and devel-

MONTHLY BRIEFING

This success has enabled us to grow - we’ve just appointed Mike Shea from Sportingbet as head of trading and I’m always looking for talent to join my team. For any developers who love scaling challenges and are obsessed by new technologies, get in touch.

FEBRUARY 4-6 ICE 2014, ExCeL London 4 SBC’s Ice Ice Baby 5 Fire & Ice by Lyceum Media 7-10 The London Affiliate Conference (LAC) 2014, Earls Court Exhibition Centre MARCH 4-6 iGaming Asia Congress 2014, Macao 19-21 iGaming North America 2014, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Las Vegas

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Social conversions research launch iGaming consultant Jason Prasad will be presenting his research on social to real-money gambling conversions at the Social Gambling Conference, taking place at Dexter House, London on the 6-7 November 2013. Prasad recently conducted an academic research study on evaluating the effect of perceived marketing communication programs on social gamblers online. The research study explored the extent to which conventional marketing communication programs, suitable for real money gamblers, influence social gamblers’ buying behaviour online.

Brazil conference gathering pace With footballing legend Ronaldo among the speakers at this month’s Brasilian Gaming Congress, it is little wonder there has been a clamour for tickets.

larion Events has announced that over 100 participants are confirmed for the invitationonly Brasilian Gaming Congress, and there is clear picture emerging about its international importance. Many of the world’s biggest brands are confirmed to be attending the Congress, which will take place 18-20 November in Rio de Janeiro. They will travel there to speak with Brazil’s key government and regulatory authorities and discuss their experiences of gaming regulation, sports integrity and lottery innovation. Globally recognised brands such as Codere, Intralot, Ladbrokes, PaddyPower and La Française des Jeux will all be joining the debate as speakers, while delegates are confirmed from the Austrian Lottery Oesterreichische Lotterien GmbH, PMU France, Novo-

matic, Bally and Playtech. Commenting on the importance of the debate to take place at the Congress, Magnho José said: “Brazil is at a critical time as prepares for the enormous challenge of hosting a World Cup and Olympics between now and 2018. Ensuring there is a strong regulatory environment to protect the integrity of these sports is of paramount importance to their authorities, and engaging with international sports bodies, other regulators and gaming operators is a very progressive and important step to being ready for these major sporting events.” In addition to many of the world’s largest commercial gaming brands, there are many leading regulators and industry representatives heading to Brazil from Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Finland, the UK and the USA to name but a few. From

Latin America there will be senior officials coming from Chile, Uruguay, Peru and Argentina. Birgitte Sand, director at SKAT - Danish Gambling Authority, added: “Bringing together such an impressive wealth of international regulatory experience is going to be a tremendous benefit to Brazil’s authorities, and I’m very glad to be one of those voices at the Congress helping to share my experiences of regulating the sports betting market.” Also appearing at BGC os legendary Brazilian footballer Ronaldo ‘The Phenomenon’ Luís Nazário de Lima. Representing Fundação Fenómenos, he will be speaking about: “Poker as a mind sport” and will also be demonstrating some of his skills as a poker player. He will be joined by the Brazilian poker pro and World Series of Poker Cham-

ROSS BROWNLEE / SOCCEREX VIA ACTION IMAGES LIVEPIC

EVENT

RONALDO WILL BE SPEAKING AT THE BGC

pion André Akkari. Fabio Cleto, VP government funds and lotteries at Caixa Economica Federal, is also pleased to be involved. “We’re honoured by the invitation to this event because we consider it not only an opportunity to follow the discussions that will be presented during the technical workshops, but to listen to the State Lotteries market representatives and their regulatory bodies, and gain an international per-

spective of the gaming market. “Considering that games of chance is an activity of a special nature, any debate about this topic must be focused on those principles which justify granting authorisation to operate lotteries all over the world – to generate resources for social causes and protect society. This is the only way to achieve results that may contribute to expanding the State Lotteries market, using

current technology innovation, without compromising the security requirements to protect the player and encourage responsible gaming. “Nevertheless, to clarify, CAIXA operates the Brazilian Federal Lotteries by delegation of the Federal Government; it is the Secretaria de Acompanhamento Econômico (SEAE) from the Ministry of Finance that is responsible for the gaming regulation in Brazil.”

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Analysis

Footba drive in t is not unusual to see football at the top of any betting chart these days, so having the Manchester Derby sit at the top of the online betting pile is not a huge surprise given the high profile nature of games between these two teams. In the past couple of seasons the games between City and United have actually decided the fate of the league trophy, but it feels a little different this year, not least because the derby was so early in the season. But the Premier league this season is more exciting than it has been in recent times, mainly because the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson has levelled the playing field somewhat. Now there is a real belief that any one of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Tottenham Hotspur, Man United and even Liverpool could

ACTION IMAGES / JASON CAIRNDUFF LIVEPIC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Horseracing –St Leger Stakes, Doncaster International Football – Ukraine v England, World Cup Qualifier Horseracing – Betfred Sprint Cup, Haydock International Football – England v Moldova, World Cup Qualifier, Horseracing – Ayr Gold Cup, Ayr Domestic Football – Man City v Man Utd Horseracing – Betfred Cambridgeshire, Newmarket Tennis – US Open Final, New York Golf – Tour Championship, East Lake GC, USA Domestic Football – Liverpool v Man Utd

Chart supplied by: Betfred. Data for September

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

UK 100, Daily Wall Street, Daily Germany 30, Daily Spot, EUR/USD Spot, GBP/USD UK 100, Dec Spot, AUD/USD Spot, USD/JPY Germany 30, December Gold, Daily Oct

Chart supplied by: Spreadex. Calculated on volume of bets. Data for September

Tennis – US Open Final Djokovic v Nadal Tennis – US Open Semi Final Djokovic v Wawrinka International Cricket – England v Australia (5th ODI) Tennis – US Open Final S Williams v Azarenka Tennis – US Open Quarter Final Gasquet v Ferrer International Cricket – Zimbabwe v Pakistan (2nd Test) International Cricket – England v Australia (4th ODI) CL T20 Cricket – Chennai v Hyderabad CL T20 Cricket – Trinidad and Tobago v Hyderabad CL T20 Cricket – Titans v Trinidad and Tobago

Chart supplied by: Betfair. Data from September

TOP TEN FINANCIAL SPREAD MARKETS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

TOP TEN SPORTS SPREAD MARKETS

TOP TEN BETTING EXCHANGE EVENTS

TOP TEN RETAIL BETTING (UK) EVENTS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Chart supplied by: Spreadex. Calculated on volume of bets. Data for September

TOP TEN BOOKMAKERS FOR MONEYBACK OFFERS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

(1) Paddy Power (4) Bet365 (2) William Hill (5) Betfair (6) Betfred (3) Winner (7) Ladbrokes (8) Stan James (-) Betway (-) BetVictor

Chart supplied by: Freebets.com. Data for September

International Cricket – Zimbabwe v Pakistan 1st Test International Cricket – Zimbabwe v Pakistan 2nd Test Domestic Football – Man City v Man Utd International Cricket – England v Australia 5th ODI International Football – Ukraine v England International Cricket – England v Australia 2nd ODI Domestic Football – Arsenal v Tottenham Domestic Football – Swansea v Liverpool Domestic Football – Sunderland v Liverpool Domestic Football – Liverpool v Man Utd

TOP TEN MONEYBACK OFFERS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Paddy Power –if last scoring play is a field goal (NFL) Betfred –If driver fails to finish (F1) Paddy Power – If Brogan scores (GAA) Paddy Power – If Horgan scores (GAA) Paddy Power – if last touchdown 25+ yards (NFL) Bet365 – if backing winner at 2/1 or more (greyhounds) Paddy Power – if last conversion missed (Rugby League) Bet365 – Sky dogs 2/1 (Champion Stakes - Romford) Paddy Power – if match ends in a draw (Premier League) Paddy Power – Cashback if Man Utd win (Premier League)

Chart supplied by: Freebets.com . Data for September

THE £10,000,000 COLOSSUS

ALL OTHER BETS ARE LOWER LEAGUE 38 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2013

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TOP TEN ONLINE CASINO PERFORMANCE