iGaming


Facebook starts to allow real money gambling


Gamesys has managed to get a gambling app onto Facebook - the big question is: do people want to gamble real money on the social network?


SOCIAL T


he igaming industry may have been given a taster of things to come after


Gamesys launched a new Jackpotjoy application via Facebook. Bingo & Slots Friendzy will be available to Facebook users aged 18 and over in the UK who will be able to play games for real cash prizes.


Gamesys is claiming that it is an historic event as it is the first real gambling game that has been made through Facebook’s Centre.


UK App


The Friendzy App com- prises of a series of 90 Ball Bingo and Slots games which will offer the Face- book community the opportunity to play with and win real money. Players have been prom- ised a safe and trusted


gaming experience with unique features like: • Community Progressive Jackpots, when they pop everyone’s a winner • Friendzy Bonus games which gives players chances to win free bingo tickets • Friendzy Time offers extra ball calls meaning more winners after every Bingo game • Invite a Friend Rewards will result in enhanced payouts when invited friends play in the same game


Jackpotjoy managing director Michael Saunders said: “As the UK’s leading online Instant Win and Bingo operator we are com- mitted to extending our products to a wider adult audience, so we’ve rein- vented our exclusive Bingo and Slots games to appeal


to the UK Facebook com- munity. This marks an exciting turning point for the industry and a mile- stone for the Gamesys busi- ness.”


Julien Codorniou, Head of EMEA Gaming Partner- ships for Facebook, added: “People love playing new types of games with their friends on Facebook and real money gaming is a popular leisure activity in the UK. We’re delighted to be working with Gamesys to enable them to offer their games on Facebook so that people can enjoy playing more games with their friends.”


Bingo & Slots Friendzy will only be available to Facebook users in the UK and in line with regulatory requirements, only users aged 18+ will be able to play. A series of controls


will be in place to protect under 18s and vulnerable people while enabling adult Facebook users to enjoy the gaming experience: • Before being permitted to play, users will be subject to strict account accept- ance controls verifying their identity, and that they are over 18 and located in the UK. • Thanks to Facebook’s age-gating and geo-loca- tion technology the appli- cations, pages and newsfeed activity of the games will not be visible to users under 18 years old and only visible to those in the UK. • In line with industry stan- dard gambling legislation, all users will have access to a number of self-help tools to limit their spending and exclude themselves from playing at any time.


ANALYSIS


After many years of discussion and argument, the igaming industry can now finally see practically if Facebook is a natural platform to carry real money gambling. Operators have frequently cited the millions of people who use the play for free gambling apps via Facebook as some kind of Holy Grail. Now Gamesys is in position to see if such faith is justified. The much more stringent ID checks will be important though; only last month it was revealed Facebook was carrying 83m fake profiles. If too many under age players slip through the cracks in security then the


experiment could be over very quickly indeed.


32Red continues upwardly trend CASINO O


perator 32Red has reported record rev- enues for the first


half of the year, with total gross win up 50 per cent to £16.5m. It is the continua- tion of a positive trend for the firm as it represents a sixth successive 6 month period of record revenues. The figures have been


driven by the performance of the 32Red Casino oper- ation where gross win jumped 52 per cent to £14.5m and the number of active casino customers leapt by 81 per cent


to


31,722. The number of new players almost doubled (93 per cent) to 18,724, but this new influx may have driven down the casino


player yield which


dropped quite a bit during the period from £543 to £457.


Interestingly, 4 BettingBusinessInteractive • AUGUST 2012 the


ED WARE: ‘WE LOOK FORWARD TO


LAUNCHING 32RED.IT’


cost per acquisition fell too, but only nominally - £166 from £173.


32Red CEO Ed Ware


said: “The continued growth in revenues, par- ticularly in light of strong comparatives, is testa- ment to the strong new player recruitment result- ing from more investment in our main market, the UK. We aim to continue in this regard as well as taking our first measured steps in entering the Italian market. We look forward to launching 32Red.it during the second half of the year and welcome the recent deci- sion by the Italian authori- ties to commence the procedures to approve online slots games from December 2012 onwards. While we recognise the


potential for economic and regulatory uncer- tainty across Europe, we look forward to further progress


during the


second half of 2012.” The outlook is promis- ing - gross win for the twenty days to 20 July is up 28 per cent on the cor- responding period in 2011. The firm added: “The strong H1 trading perform- ance and current trading is likely to see the company deliver revenues that are ahead of current market expectations for 2012. The company continues to invest in marketing and confirms that profits remain in line with man- agement expectations.”


Playyoo acquisition provides Italian access


ITALY M


obile gambling opera- tor Probability is to buy


Swiss firm


Playyoo SA, with £1.8m of its shares. Playyoo develops and operates a business-to- business mobile gambling and sports betting technol- ogy for the recently regu- lated Italian market and includes SNAI, Cogetech and NeoMobile among its customers. Playyoo’s mobile gam- bling games have been approved by AAMS, the Italian gambling regulator, and its platform has been integrated into the adminis- trative and reporting systems which AAMS oper- ates. AAMS requires that every wager be notified to them in real time, as well as independent verification of the game design and fair- ness before products can be offered to players.


Whilst Playyoo has been


developing its technology for several years it only recently began to generate revenues from this service and launched its first gam- bling game only in January this year. However, based upon the strength of con- tracts already signed, the pipeline of new products and the potential of additional revenues from slots games after December 2012, Prob- ability expects the purchase to make money in the next full financial year. Chief executive Charles explained:


Cohen “This


acquisition gives us immedi- ate access to the Italian gam- bling market, early revenues, and the opportunity to grow rapidly as the market opens up to slots later this year. The Italian gambling market has only recently been fully regu- lated and there are only a small number of operators live from the first wave of licence applications. Playyoo has established an early lead and together we will build on that.


“Italy is, in our view, the most attractive of all regu- lated European markets outside the UK at the present time. Buying Playyoo fast- tracks us into this market with a proven technology which already meets the stringent requirements of the Italian regulatory system, a great team of people and established cus- tomer relationships with major operators who we are very excited to have the opportunity to work with.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40