SIGNING
Switzerland Society's French-speaking lottery,
Société de la Loterie de la Suisse Romande, or
Loterie Romande, has signed a four-year contract for
Gtech Corporation's interactive gaming platform.
Announced on Friday, the contract with the Gruppo Lottomatica subsidiary will give the lottery group a system that will initially launch online and then eventually expand to interactive television and mobile channels, Gtech said.
Offering traditional lottery style games such as EuroMillions, Swiss Lotto and instant games, as well as fixed-odds games, horse racing and other sports-betting games, the system and its rollout, according to Gtech, will begin in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
LAUNCHING
Parlay Entertainment Inc. and Entraction Holding A.B., the software developer and online gambling operator, have agreed to launch a European-facing online bingo network..
Combining the Internet and TV bingo software solutions provider's front-end bingo and gaming products with Entraction's back-end administration system, the groups will launch a Malta-based bingo network to be managed by Entraction, Parlay said on Thursday.
According to Scott White, Parlay's chief executive, the network will launch by the end of this month.
Last month Parlay reported a 53 percent drop in royalty revenue in 2008 when compared to the same period in 2007.
Additionally, Virtue Fusion Alderney announced that Paddy Power, the Irish gambling company, has switched from Parlay Entertainment to Virtue Fusion's bingo network.
REPORTING
In the first quarter 2009, Entraction A.B., the online poker network operator and software developer, saw net turnover increase 52.2 percent year over year to 121.1 million Swedish kronor.
Operating profits soared 101.3 percent, when compared to last year's corresponding period -- bringing the group's profit from 7.7 million to 15.5 million Swedish kronor. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was at 19.1 million Swedish kronor, a 70.5 percent increase from first quarter 2008.
Calling it the best quarter ever, Peter Åström, Entraction's chief executive, also said in the earnings statement that he has "no doubt" that 2009 will be the company's "best year ever."
Mr. Åström noted several projects in the pipeline, including a reinforcement of Entraction's betting offering and poker platform. He also mentioned that the group will move its office to Stockholm -- adding that the move is to serve as its staff's yearly bonus.
Last week Entraction finalized the sale of Casablanca Gaming Group A.B. to iGame Ltd., in which iGame will operate Casagaming's sites, 24hPoker.com and Martinspoker.com, on Entraction's network.
NEWEST ESSA MEMBER
Stanleybet International has announced that it is the first land-based bookmaker to join the European Sports Security Association, a European Union-based sports betting watchdog group made up of online operators.
"Although Stanleybet is mainly an offline operator, our members agreed that they should join the association because of their excellent investigative unit, which operates in seven markets," said Khalid Ali, secretary general of the European Sports Security Association, in a prepared statement.
"This means ESSA will be able to obtain valuable information in our quest to combat illegal betting and game manipulation," he added.
As an associate member, Stanleybet said it will report any irregular betting patterns or any possible insider betting through the ESSA Early Warning System, a system that allows the nonprofit organization, which was established in 2005, to work with national sport regulators and various legal departments.
"We at Stanleybet intend to stand at the forefront in the fight to uphold integrity, and I am pleased that we have joined ESSA, a young but increasingly key player in this struggle," said John Whittaker, Stanleybet's managing director.