PRODUCTS PRODUCTS Microgaming Software Systems Ltd. has launched its Cashapilla slot, an Australian pokie slots variant offering 100 paylines.
Meanwhile, PartyGaming, the Gibraltar operator, has announced a four-year licensing agreement with StudioCanal Image of France to develop film-themed slots based on "The Terminator" and "Rambo."
"We plan to license more brands over the coming months to improve further the quality and range of our games and keep ahead of our competitors," said James A. Ryan, Party's newly installed chief executive.
Historically, film-themed slots content has been a successful revenue builder for companies like CryptoLogic Ltd., Microgaming and 888 Holdings.
"Branded slots just seem to generate far higher revenues," Richard Carter, an analyst with Numis Securities in London, told IGN earlier this month. "People seem to be able to relate to them, seem to understand them."
Party recently launched its first round of branded online slots -- " Mission: Impossible" and "Saturday Night Fever" -- which it said have proven "particularly popular."
M&A SPECULATION Inspired Gaming, the server-based gaming specialist, successfully completed the £40 million placing announced July 7.
The placing's proceeds, the Straffordshire company said in its interim results this month, will be used pay £20 million in cash costs associated with its exit from the pubs sector, as well as to repay debt and fund growth.
Freshly shorn of its loss-making pubs division, Inspired could be ripe for a takeover and has already attracted "various unsolicited and very preliminary expressions of interest for certain of its divisions and for the Company as a whole," it said Wednesday.
"I could see Lottomatica/Gtech or perhaps even Intralot or another US gaming machine supplier with eyes on SBG (server-based gaming) as being interested," one analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, told IGamingNews in an e-mail Thursday.
Playtech Ltd. could be a possible suitor, given the company's enormous war chest and fledgling Videobet subsidiary in Estonia, which specializes in server-based gaming.
CORRECTION In an "IGN's Take" on July 7, I incorrectly wrote that Inspired supplies server-based gaming services to Ladbrokes. For reference, International Game Technology's subsidiary, Cyberview Technology Inc., supplies Ladbrokes.
According to Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, Inspired supplies William Hill with 75 percent of its server-based gaming terminals, and wholly supplies Betfred and the Tote.
Chris Krafcik is the editor of IGamingNews. He lives in St. Louis, Mo.