SPORTS BETTING
approval of the Northern Territory regulator but is expected to complete before the end of the second quarter. “This strategic acquisition gives Unibet immediate access to the regulated
Unibet goes Down Under U
Australian market, which is currently open to sports betting and horse racing. We intend to rebrand the business quickly to Unibet. Betchoice already has a strong offering and market position in horse racing, and through [the betting platform] Kambi, Unibet has the opportunity to enhance the quality and performance of Betchoice’s sports betting offering and so to deliver revenue growth and margin improvements,” said Unibet CEO Henrik Tjärnström. “In addition to benefiting from the already existing Australian product offering,
the acquisition of Betchoice will provide Unibet with a platform to facilitate other gambling services and opportunities should market conditions continue to improve,” he added.
Whoa! I
talian horse racing is in trouble despite government moves to
help it, warns Global Betting and Gaming Consultants. The consultancy warns that
racing “faces a real threat to its existence and it not clear if the newly named agency is fit for purpose”, referring to ASSI, the body formerly known as UNIRE which is responsible for its development in Italy. Gross gaming yield is dropping
dramatically, GBGC reports, and government funding has been severely cut. “The liberalisation of the Italian
gambling market was followed by a boom in gambling activities and products, making the market very competitive but also innovative. But horse racing failed to modernise. UNIRE, the hippodromes and race horse associations, instead of pushing to make the sector more competitive and improve the horse racing product, were assertive only in asking for taxpayers’ money. “The new Italian government will
soon issue a decree lowering the gambling tax on horse race betting and allow the sector to diversify betting products, but the cuts [in funding for the agency] will stay. ASSI will become a much smaller agency so more money will be diverted to prize money. “For many involved in horse
racing the fear is that these measures are too little too late.”
20 MARCH 2012
Wm. Hill deal W
www.euroslot-online.com Betting in brief
nibet is to acquire the Australian online bookmaker Betchoice. It is paying £13.6m on a cash-free and debt-free basis in a deal which requires the
Bookmakers are guilty of “predatory profiteering”, “preying on the poor” and “destroying communities”, according to Harriet Harman, the UK’s shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport. But her comments were rejected by Dirk Vennix, chief executive of the Association of British Bookmakers, who said that there is no evidence that betting shops increase poverty.
The online sports betting community
OLBG.com is to sponsor a race at the Cheltenham Festival. The first OLBG Mares Hurdle for The David Nicholson Trophy will take place 13 March. “Our sports betting community at OLBG looks forward to the opening day of Cheltenham Festival with the same excitement as kids look forward to Christmas morning,” said Stefanie Reeve, the firm’s PR manager. Meanwhile,
StanJames.com is to sponsor the Chester Cup for three years.
illiam Hill has named Inspired Gaming Group as its exclusive supplier of gaming
machines. Inspired already supplies around 80 percent of
the gaming machines in the bookmaker’s 2350 outlets, where it launched the dual-screen Storm cabinet in 2009. NowWilliam Hill is also trialling a three-screen
version of the Storm in a hundred locations, and plans to roll out the cabinets to all venues that don’t yet have the Inspired units by the middle of this year. The two firms are also launching a marketing and rewards system called Core VIP. SaidWilliam Hill chief executive Ralph Topping:
“This change to our machines estate will ensure we can continue to offer market-leading technology to our customers. Inspired has consistently delivered outstanding performance and has a strong track record of innovation.” Added Luke Alvarez, Inspired’s chief executive:
“We plan to drive the next wave of technology and game innovation in server-based slots, with a number of upcoming world firsts in player rewards” The new deal, which runs to 2016, gives the
bookmaker the option to enlist a second supplier for part of its estate. Separately, Inspired’s Virtual Sports was named
best betting product of the year at the ICE Totally Gaming awards. The firm says that Virtual Sports is now used by
customers in 33 territories, generating $7bn revenue and $950m gross winnings every year. BesidesWilliam Hill, customers include Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes, Caliente, Bet365, Sky, and Paddy Power, which launched a mobile version last year. Said Steve Rogers, Inspired’s managing director
for Virtual Sports: “Inspired is the leader in virtual sports betting because we’re committed to a continual development of new events suitable for deployment across all available delivery platforms.”
Irish firm Hattrick used the ICE Totally Gaming event in London to demonstrate a new betting terminal for sports bars.
Betfair offered e-gamers free bets every time a goal was scored in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16. Using a Wheel of Fortune-type mechanism, each customer was allocated three Champions League stars; then, whenever one of their players scored, they received a free £5 bet which could be redeemed on any Betfair Arcade game including slots, table games and progressive jackpots.
William Hill and Bet365 are the leaders of the increasingly popular online in-play sports betting market, according to a new survey from GamblingData.
Sports Betting Tech has launched a mobile betting platform for smartphones and tablets. Said CEO Itai Zak: “Today’s punters want to be a part of the action and to not only make bets during events but to see those bets settled in real time, while they’re watching TV or watching events live.” The firm is also partnering with the bookmaker Betshop to provide a managed live betting system, both online and in land- based operations. Zak said that the system, offering more than 7000 games a month, would reduce costs for the bookmaker.
OpenBet has launched a sports betting platform with the Canadian operator Atlantic Lottery, its third provincial lottery customer in the country. Atlantic operates in Canada’s four Maritime provinces: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Separately, OpenBet Retail has ceased to offer hosted services in order to concentrate on technology development.
Bet Tracker has added new features to its Accuscore game analysis and tips service, which covers 12,000 sporting events worldwide. It can be used on Apple, BlackBerry and Android devices.
THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF THE AMUSEMENT AND STREET GAMING INDUSTRY
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