Retail

FTSE-listed gambling technology provider, Playtech has announced its latest provisions for omni-channel client Gala Coral, which will see its first ‘out of the box’ retail Virtual Sports product rolled-out across 100 Coral UK betting shops. Following the initial roll-out phase within Coral betting shops, Playtech will then aim to deploy it new Virtual Sports product throughout 1000 further Coral retail …

Greek licensed operator Stoiximan has become the latest member of European sports betting integrity unit ESSA. Stoiximan becomes the 21st industry member to join the integrity unit, and will contribute to ESSA’s global alert and sports betting fraud detection system. ESSA governance welcomed the inclusion of Stoiximan one of the highest coverage betting operators in the Greek and Romanian markets. …

Games and systems developer in the Asian gaming sector, XIN Gaming, has made two acquisitions this week. These are in the form of Tain, the software and solutions provider, and Betting Promotion, the sportsbook supplier. The two Swedish companies merged in 2013 and will now be owned by XIN Gaming, which is already established as a leading content and platform supplier. Mathias Larsson, …

Ladbrokes marketing has confirmed that it will sponsor amateur rugby league club ‘The Political Animals’. The rugby league side which comprises of politicians from all levels and all major political parties with Peers, MPs and Councillors amongst its team members. The sponsorship will see the Ladbrokes brand featured on The Political Animals jersey for its upcoming charitable fixtures. Ladbrokes has …

The governance of Swedish state-owned gambling operator Svenska Spel has stated that it is pleased with 2016 corporate performance thus far, as the company maintained its financial performance despite facing ‘tough market competition’. Presenting its H1 2016 results (period ending 30 June), Svenska Spel would reveal net gaming revenues of SEK 4.4 billion (£385 million), in-line with 2015 performance. The …

Full-service online gambling platform provider Gaming1 has confirmed that it has entered a joint 50/50 venture with Portuguese gambling operator Estoril Sol (part of Stanley Ho Group). The joint venture will see the launch of new licensed online casino EstorilSolCasinos.pt which will feature Gaming1 gaming content inventory for video slots, roulette and blackjack. Gaming1 governance confirmed that its development team would …

French state-owned betting operator Paris Mutuel Urbain (PMU) has confirmed an exclusive three-year partnership valued at €2 million with Irish SMS text betting services provider Onionsack (onionsack.eu). The partnership will see PMU become the first French operator to integrate a live betting functions via text/SMS messages. Waterford-based Onionsack has created a mobile platform which can interpret written bets placed by …

The merger between Ladbrokes and Coral is set to complete this autumn after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed that the two firms must divest between 350 to 400 shops. In its final judgement, the CMA said: “Having considered responses to its provisional findings published in May and further analysed the evidence, the group of independent panel members investigating the …

Updating the market this morning, William Hill governance has stated that it will ‘listen to and consider’ any formal takeover offer put forward by the Rank Group and 888 Holdings consortium. At present, William Hill governance has confirmed that it has received ‘a highly preliminary approach from 888 and Rank’, regarding a potential three-way merger. The operator has further informed …

The Sunday Times has reported that the governances of Rank Group and 888 Holdings have entered ‘relatively advanced’ negotiations to form a £2 billion merger. Rank and 888 governances are expected to issue market updates on Monday outlining merger discussions, as the UK gambling industry sees further consolidation. As yet, little is known of how the merger transaction will be …