Totolek to fight for licences
Intralot’s Polish subsidiary Totoloek has pledged to fight a decision by the Polish Ministry of Finance to revoke its betting licences and denied breaking the law while running its e-promocja customer loyalty scheme. The firm said: “The company and its legal advisors consider that the loyalty scheme was in conformity with the Polish Law and worldwide best business practices. To this end, and in order to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders, Totolotek will take all necessary actions and measures in order to protect its rights and allow it to restore its operations.”
Bwin.party signs up Top Eleven creator
SOCIAL B
win.party has taken another step forward with its social gaming strategy by signing an agreement with social gaming company Nordeus to initially develop a social sports betting application. The company’s new social gaming initia- tive was launched to a big fanfare earlier this year when it created a new business unit called Win, and the group has taken its time finding the right partner to help exploit its strong presence in real money sports betting. Nordeus was voted The Best Gaming Startup at the Europas Awards 2011 and was chosen as one of the 25 hi-tech European companies with ‘most potential and suc- cessful outcome’ by the European Tech Tour Association.
SPORTSBETTING ACCOUNTS FOR 76 PER CENT OF SPORTINGBET’S GROSS GAMING REVENUE
Co-CEO of
Bwin.party Norbert Teufel- berger said: “Nordeus has demonstrated that there is great demand for social sports games around the world through its Top Eleven game. We will leverage our unrivalled sports brand and products as well as our online betting and gaming expertise. Nordeus and
bwin.party are two European companies with global footprints and share an aspiration to become clear leaders in social sports gaming.” Nordeus CEO Branko Milutinovic added: “Following the successful release of Top Eleven, we recognised a huge opportunity for social sports betting games based on the feedback from millions of our customers. Since then, we have been seeking the right partner and we are thrilled to have an oppor- tunity to work with
Bwin.party, market leader in online sports betting and one of the most known brands in sports. “With Top Eleven, we have proven that our unique approach in social games design is highly engaging and successful. With that in mind, we are convinced that leveraging our
NORDEUS IS THE FIRM BEHIND THE PHENOMENALLY POPULAR TOP ELEVEN GAME
development experience in combination with
Bwin.party’s expertise in real-money betting will lead to a highly successful title and establish our companies as the leaders in social sports gaming.” Nordeus’ Top Eleven football manage- ment social game consistently features in the Top 25 list of games by daily average users on Facebook. Top Eleven is the most- played online sports game in the world with more than 6m monthly active users and 2m daily active users on Web, Android and iOS devices. In addition to its popularity on Face- book, the Top Eleven game is available on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social network with more than 100m users.
Bwin.party’s strong association with foot- ball, it is the shirt sponsor of Real Madrid and recently signed up as the betting partner for Manchester United with an explicit social gaming agenda, means that a social gaming product built around the sport is an obvious starting point for the Win business.
esults take exceptionals has posted a £39.1m loss of the financial year. In:play is still a major component of Sport-
ingbet’s European and Emerging Markets business accounting for 61 per cent of the amounts wagered. The firm commented: “Our in:play margin of 9.7 per cent continues to be the highest in the industry as a result of our experienced trading team, bespoke tech- nology and wide product offering. While sports betting remains the focus of the business, we provide a complete range of other gaming products to our customers including casino, games and poker. Casino and games contribute 18 per cent of group gross gaming revenue whilst poker makes up the remaining 6 per cent.”
It is the integration of Centrebet, the Aus- tralian bookmaker, which is the true success story of Sportingbet’s year, as it was com- pleted on schedule with higher synergy ben- efits realised than originally planned. Talking about Australia, McIver said: “Online sports betting remains a very attractive growth market as customers turn away from retail, tote products. The division now accounts for over half of group revenue on a proforma basis and is
ANDREW MCIVER: AUSTRALIA ‘A KEY DRIVER AND COMPONENT OF THE GROUP’S PROFITS’
ANALYSIS
currently the key driver and component of the group’s profits.”
The firm has also learned lessons in Aus- tralia that it hopes will transfer to other newly regulated markets. McIver explained: “Based on our experience of the regulated Australian market, an initial reduction in profitability resulting from the implemen- tation of taxes is more than offset in the
medium term. New opportunities resulting from the increased ability to advertise, improved trustworthiness and better payment processing efficiency, combined with an existing strong brand presence, provide an enhanced platform for medium- term profit growth. As a result the group is in a stronger position to capitalise on stable, well regulated and growing markets.”
The appeal of Sportingbet’s Australian business to William Hill is clear for all to see, even with the new tax regime hitting the bottom line. As Sportingbet put it: “Amounts wagered in Australia increased by 82 per cent from £820m to £1,493.1m resulting in a pre-gaming duty margin of £101.1m (2011: £47.0m). The underlying like for like growth rates were impressive with amounts wagered up 11 per cent and NGR up 31 per cent, continuing the strong growth rates experienced over the last few years. Market data suggests that the customers who use our products tend to be satisfied, loyal, high value and frequent visitors to the site which reflects the breadth of our product offering.” With those figures it is not surprising that William Hill is looking greedily at Sportingbet with acquisitive eyes.
BettingBusinessInteractive • OCTOBER 2012 3
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