Plenty Happening at the EiG – September 18th, 2009

Mfuse, the UK-based mobile gambling technology provider has revealed that it has inked an agreement with IPC Ignite’s men’s magazine Nuts. The deal calls for Mfuse to deliver a white label mobile gambling solution with one of its clients, among which are major sportsbetting outfits like Sportingbet and Ladbrokes. The company did not reveal which one would be involved.

Plenty of action at Dragonfish Elsewhere at EiG, Dragonfish, the independent B2B division of 888.com headed by Gabi Campos revealed that its new Bingo Network is proceeding apace with 60 skins, and that it has released 17 new Quickplay side games for Dragonfish bingo partners, providing more interest and diversity for players.

The package will include 14 slots, 2 scratchgames and a roulette offering. Similar to bingo, players can play for free or small amounts of money.

A company spokesman said that instant games play a major part in the profitability of bingo sites, and Dragonfish provides an extensive range of games from slots, scratch cards and card games through to other popular formats such as High Low, Virtual Sport and Tables Games.

The Dragonfish portfolio of Quickplay games include global branded games such as Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Cluedo, Monopoly, Cleopatra and XFactor and plans are in place to introduce these games to Dragonfish bingo partners, increasing player retention for partners and driving increased lifetime customer value.

Live gambling in Asia Live gambling over the Internet provider Entertasia revealed a buoyant and growing business at EiG, reporting that it now has 33 licensees and offers 10 different video streamed live games. The client list includes Bodog , Victor Chandler and soon to be integrated UK top bookie firm Stan James via an arrangement with Chartwell Technology.

4 new bingo variations from Cyberarts Cyberarts continues to expand its online bingo effort, offering clients 75 and 90 ball variants along with a Swedish 75 ball version. The company plans to launch an 80 ball variation next week. Joining the list of available games from this provider is baccarat, and the company is currently working on an interesting deal with Italian VLT provider Zest Gaming which will see a slot machine based on the open and scalable Cyberarts platform. European deal-making is continuing, with the hint of some interesting new developments in France when that market is liberalised.

Mobile the word at Wagerworks The big push at IGT UK subsidiary Wagerworks appears to be focused on mobile gambling right now, according to sales manager Tony Plaskow. Mobile games have been provided to major UK firms like Sky and Rank through a collaborative deal with Orbis and its Openbet platform.

Given the diverse Wagerworks games inventory there is good potential for many games to be converted to the mobile medium to meet growing demand. Plaskow revealed that games available on mobile at present include Elvis, Dracula, Cleopatra, Hi Five and Rainbow Riches, with plans to introduce faves like Cluedo, Monopoly, Roulette, Blackjack and Video Poker.

Cryptologic has treats in store The impressive Cryptologic stand at EiG featured many of the entertainment themes accessed through brand licencing with major media companies, such as The Incredible Hulk, Spiderman and King Kong, all of which have found their way into very popular slots games. There’s a lot more in the pipeline, with an October launch date planned for the ever-popular comic characters Batman and Wonderwoman, licenced from Warner Bros. DC Comics.

A spokesman said the new games would be some of the biggest yet from this veteran online gambling software developer, featuring 50 paylines and a highly innovative Bonus Bet which can unlock extra bonus bonanzas. This top company is planning on 3 to 6 new games being released every quarter with 20 to 30 branded and unbranded games in the pipeline in a 40/60 mix of slots and table games. Come November, the company will be ready to launch a new lobby, offering players more functionality in an innovative and intuitive presentation that will make it easier for players to find specific games in the large Cryptologic inventory, and give them better control.

Versatile platform Orbis Openbet’s highly versatile and open platform is now being used by a slew of companies, enabling them to integrate a greater range of games for their players. The company develops its own games and works with Freemantle Media Gaming on popular games like X-Factor, but its open platform enables other companies to share this diversity of offering, including Wagerworks, Cryptologic and Barcrest.

The company’s Chain Reaction style games continue to draw the players, and are being constantly developed. Package 18 has been released on the Orbis new games schedule, so the next offerings will be around October. On demo at EiG was a superbly presented, colourful 20 ‘line’ cascading game called Cash Drop.

Unique is the byword at Net Entertainment Rather than renovate the graphics and issue ‘clones’ of its games, Swedish provider Net Entertainment goes the extra mile by making each offering unique in terms of functionality and content, said brand coordinator Oscar Lundqvist. This focus on quality rather than quantity results in fewer new releases, but originality and good player response. Latest arrival will be a slot with advanced 3D graphics branded Ghost Pirates, and the pipeline will produce an average of three unique games a month going forward.

An interesting multi-player roulette is imminent, and the company’s Quick Spin feature appears to have appealed to players, generating a 20 percent rise in game revenue. Ongame continues to grow Online poker network Ongame’s agreement bringing Eurosportbet on board is part of the Bwin subsidiary’s continuing growth and success following the launch of its impressive P5 poker engine in June this year.

This advanced technology has underpinned the network growth and is being continually improved, with new features planned for the fall of 2009 and November which will add value and improve the player experience.

Bwin’s recent acquisition deal with Gioco Digitale will see the Italian dedicated network using the P5 engine. G2 celebrates its corporate arrival GTech G2’s grouping of Boss Media, Dynamite Idea, Finsoft and St Minver caught the headlines last month (see previous InfoPowa report) and the company used EiG to showcase both new games offerings and the very smart new corporate identity. The group added seven new minigames and slot games (Hot Pursuit, Luxor Temple, Rockin´ Fruits, Irish Magic, Hells Bells, Burning Ocean, Spot of Luck) to an already extensive games portfolio.

“Operators are finding that minigames, or side games, provide an excellent additional revenue stream,” said Simon Caddy, founder of Dynamite Idea and now Head of G2’s Games Studio creative think tank. “As part of GTech G2 now, we have more resources to develop new games and more operators have access to them.” New developments include a major update to the group’s bingo software as well as the launch of the Games Studio and the latest casino software update, which integrates tournaments with the Gaming Management System.

Playtech lands a big one The Sega deal (see following story) was the talking point when it came to Playtech at EiG. A major coup for the software company.