North America

AIM-listed bingo operator Stride Gaming plc has bought InfiApps Limited, a profitable internationally-focused mobile social gaming company, for up to US$39.2m, over half of which will be paid in cash, while the remainder triggered by earn-out targets over the next two years. The acquisition will provide the Stride Gaming group with an entry into the social gaming segment of online …

Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) has announced an agreement with Income Access, to provider affiliate/partnership platform and player acquisition services . The new affiliate program for CIE’s Nevada and New Jersey-facing real-money online poker brand WSOP.com and online casino brands CaesarsCasino.com and HarrahsCasino.com will be powered by the Income Access platform and managed by the company’s affiliate managers. Following Nevada’s regulation …

Issuing a corporate update, Toronto listed Amaya Inc has announced that it will refinance certain terms of its debt incurred in last year’s acquisition of Rational Group (PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands). Updating the market Amaya expects to repay approximately $575 million (£370 million) of its outstanding $800 million second lien term loan. Amaya is set to carry out …

Gambling technology provider Scientific Games has confirmed the appointment of David Smail as an Executive Vice-President & Chief Legal Officer. Smail succeeds Katie Lever, the Company’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, who will remain with Scientific Games until August 31, 2015 to facilitate the transition. Most recently, Smail was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Morgans Hotel Group Co., where he served as chief …

Following last week’s announcement of its $275 million Series E venture round funding, daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator FanDuel has confirmed the acquisition of Scottish app development studio KotiKan. FanDuel who stated that it would use its raised funds to further develop in-house development and delivery competencies, acquired the Edinburgh based mobile development studio who have worked on FanDuel mobile …

New York activist investor Jason Ader has suggested that GVC Holdings Plc will need to increase its 122.5p per share offer in order to succeed in its takeover bid for bwin.party Entertainment. Ader’s investment fund Springowl, which owns 5.2% of bwin.party, has stated that GVC Holdings and its bid backer Cerberus Capital Management will need to up its offer to …

CMC Markets,provider of spread betting and CFD trading has announced that they will be joining Land Rover BAR as Official Partner to help bring the America’s Cup home. The America’s Cup is the oldest international trophy in world sport, pre-dating the modern Olympic Games, the Ryder Cup and the World Cup. The America’s Cup started in 1851 with a race …

The US tech industry has branded the birth of another ‘Unicorn’ as daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator DraftKings announces that it has raised $300 million (£195 million) in series D funding. 21 Century Fox’s Fox Sports division contributed the majority of the rounds funding capital, other investors included venture capital firms Atlas Ventures, Kraft Group and Raine Group. This latest …

Following last week’s announcement that it would spend $250 million on Disney ESPN inventory over the next two years, US daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings continues to ramp up its marketing coverage by announcing an exclusive partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS). The MLS will become the fifth professional sports league/body to become an official partner of DraftKings joining the …