UK lottery players have responded negatively to changes made to the EuroMillions game (Europe’s largest lottery draw). Commenting on social media channels, UK players have protested against the increased pricing of the EuroMillions draw, which will see the price of a line go up by 50p to £2.50 from September. Furthermore, the EuroMillions game will feature an extra lucky star …

Bringing new game concepts to the online poker market, the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) today has unveiled its new ‘Fish Party Sit &Go’ (title Fish Party SNGs) format a unique take on the popular Jackpot Sit & Go poker tournaments. Fish Party SNGs are fast-paced, three-player tournaments. At the beginning of each game, the slot reels, based on Microgaming’s popular Fish Party online slot, …

FTSE-listed Playtech Plc continues to strengthen its position within the sports betting market by confirming to acquire Best Gaming Technology for €138 million (£115 million). The ‘all-cash’ acquisition sees Playtech secure a 90% stake in the Vienna-based company, which specialises in retail based sports betting provisions, risk/ liability management and multi-channel odds feeds.   The announced deal will see BGT …

GVC Holdings (GVC) this morning published its half-year trading results (period ending 30 June), detailing a strong H1 performance for both GVC and acquired bwin.party brands which achieved double-digit growth on a constant currency basis. Updating the market, GVC detailed that pro-forma Net Gaming Revenues (NGR) had reached €439 million, up 8% (H1-2015: €407 million). Detailing individual brand performance, GVC …

Betway Ghana (a syndicated Betway brand) has stepped up its efforts to prevent under-age gambling, requiring its customers to provide foolproof identification and further stringent checks when placing bets via its services. The operator stated that it wanted to improve Ghana industry practices with regards to monitoring customers and discouraging any form of underage gambling, a matter which has hit …

Partnering with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published its initial ‘joint consultation’ on proposed changes to operator fees with regards to UK gambling licences. The commission expects to implement these changes from April 2017. The proposals of the UKGC consultation are as follows: Take account of the significant changes to our costs …

Openbet the market leading sports betting platform provider has moved to bolster its client data and analysis capabilities by agreeing on an exclusive partnership with user behavioural analytics company Featurespace. The collaboration will see the ARIC engine implemented into OpenBet’s Activity Feeds, enabling OpenBet customers to have real-time access to player data. Openbet clients will now have deeper analysis on …

Irish independent bookmaker BoyleSports has confirmed that it has agreed to acquire four retail betting shops from liquidated operator Hacketts Ireland. The purchase of the betting shops was registered through High-Court appointed liquidator Ken Tyrrell and Declan McDonald of PwC. The agreed deal will see BoyleSports takeover the management of Hacketts betting shops in Cashel (Co Tipperary), Callan (Co Kilkenny), …

London-based real money games studio Gamevy has announced its latest partnership with European bookmaker Marathonbet (subsidiary brand of Panbet limited). The games partnership will see Marathonbet add Gamevy’s ‘dynamic and skilled’ based real money games portfolio to its online casino product. Furthermore, the Gamevy team has developed unique football-themed instant win games with cash-out functionalities, giving Marathonbet casino players further …

The Sunday Times has reported that Betfred is nearing a deal to buy hundreds of betting shops, as the Ladbrokes-Coral merger enters the final stages of its UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) review. As part of its merger completion, Ladbrokes-Coral has been forced to sell a significant number of betting shops in order to secure UK competition approval and …