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888.com is launching a video slot game based on the popular film “Clash of the Titans”. Its launch coincides with the release of the sequel “Wrath of the Titans” and will be exclusively available in the 888casino slots arena. The slot is an “action packed tribute” to the struggles experienced by those in the film itself and is fully based on the 2010 film…and yes that does mean it doesn’t include anything from the latest release. There is nothing like last year’s model after all, as long as you brand it as retro.

Intralot is attempting to bridge the gap between online and land-based lotteries with the introduction of near field communication (NFC) technology. The lottery specialists are looking to roll out “Tap’n’Play” to customers so that they can play lottery games with a single tap of their phone onto a certain pad. It will reduce the need for the lottery industry to use so much paper and is likely to appeal to a younger more tech facing demographic.

FutureLogic is another firm looking to tap into the mobile market with the release of the PromoNet Solution v2.0. It means operators can offer mobile and “networkless” issuance and a new Player Rewards model. It aims to make it easier for operators to alter slots offerings and also means that operators can issue and redeem coupons using a tablet or smartphone.

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888.com has embarked on an extensive redesign of the 888casino. At its heart is the chance for players to create a personalized lobby by dragging and dropping casino games into place. Whether you can choose the identity of the seductive casino babe of your choice is unknown. Erez Sadan, VP of B2C casino, did reveal: “Our new 888casino provides players with all the cutting edge features necessary to enjoy brilliantly simple and realistic online casino at every level, adding to high quality experience that players have come to expect from our 888casino software.”

Lucky Club Casino has added Red Raiding Hood to its line up of online casino games. NuWorks Gaming produces the 5-reel, 25-line video slot with random jackpot and two free-spins feature. Up until March 6^th there’s a 100% deposit bonus (up to $300) to try out the new offering.

WinaGames launched another of Sheriff Gaming’s 3D slot games in the shape of Dog Ca$her. To entice players in there’s a wlecome bonus of 200% up to £/€200 or 2000Kr for new players in addition to a 100% reload bonus every month. The game is also available at OnlineBingo.eu, where there’ll be an exclusive tournament from 5th to 9th March.

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888casino is also giving players the chance to choose their rewards. “Pick Your Thrill” means customers choose their favorite casino bonus offer on every qualifying deposit made by December 11. “Thrills” include video slot free spins, roulette free spins and bonus cash prizes. Here we were thinking they meant free theme park rides and a mental party to go with.

Passoker’s unique sports betting offering will be available on OpenBet. The deal means all betting and gaming customers of OpenBet can offer the in-play product that allows wagering on televised action including sport and soaps. The non skill-based offering was first released on Victor Chandler’s site, and of the latest deal Passoker CEO Stuart Carr said: “Integrating to OpenBet is a vital development for Passoker. They are the leading egaming platform provider, so this partnership presents us with a huge opportunity to increase the supply of the Passoker product to operators around the world.”

Intralot has expanded what it offers in Peru with the launch of Click and Gana. Developed in cooperation with NeoGames it offers a number of interactive instant and scratch games that give Peruvians the chance to win $400,000 instantly. Intralot de Peru has been taking expansion in the country very seriously over the past year and Latin America is continuing to look as though it’s emerging from the shadows in the online gaming industry.

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888.com has become the latest company to appoint a prominent former-soccer player as a brand ambassador. His peroxide blond hair characterized Santiago Canizares across a playing career that spanned exactly 500 club games. Itai Pazner, Senior Vice President of 888.com, stated: “The partnership agreement with Santiago Canizares will bolster the 888 brand presence in Spain and beyond, and we are delighted to have a sportsman of his caliber on board. We are fully confident that our exclusive partnership agreement with Canizares will be beneficial to our brands; 888casino, 888 poker and 888sport.”

Canizares appeared for the Spanish national side on 45 occasions and in that time went to three World Cups. He has also won almost every club honor going including the UEFA Champions League. The contract with 888.com lasts for 12 months and is already underway.

Lastly, online betting exchange Betfair has confirmed the appointment of a new director of information systems. Michael Bischoff was initially announced earlier this month but the newest member of staff wasn’t confirmed until today. He commented, “I am very pleased to be joining Betfair at this exciting time for the company and I look forward to bringing my experience in the media, telecoms and most recently, financial services sectors, to bear in this new role.”

The new role will see Bischoff head up a team of 120 technologists and coordinate the company’s information systems across Europe and the USA.

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Clearly in a mood to mate with someone, Sportingbet attempted to couple with Unibet last year, but the fickle Swedes broke off talks after word leaked to the press, almost as if Unibet was embarrassed to have been caught kissing Sportingbet when someone switched the lights on. The proposed $2/share Sportingbet is offering Centrebet is certainly far more than the grand total of $10 Sportingbet received for selling Sportsbook.com to other Sportingbet shareholders in 2006.

Speaking of Unibet, their B2B arm Kambi Sports Solutions has inked a two-year pact to provide Maltese operator Interwetten with online pool betting products Suptertoto and SuperScore. Those two products currently pool customers from bookmakers Expekt, Nordicbet, Paf and Unibet.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has rapped 888.com’s knuckles over a Facebook pop-up ad. The ad featured a slot machine, over which type appeared reading “Addicted to slots?” The ASA felt the ad “trivialized gambling addiction and condoned and encouraged gambling behavior that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm,” ultimately concluding that the ad was “irresponsible.” Casava Enterprises, 888’s parent company, tried to claim that (a) they hadn’t even seen the ad, which was created by Online Media Solutions, and (b) that the ad wasn’t aimed at children, the young or the vulnerable. That said, 888 admitted that it did not condone the ad. Facebook had already pulled it on the grounds that it violated their advertising guidelines. Too bad all those 888 execs had already left, otherwise 888 could use this as a perfect excuse to allow somebody else to “seek other opportunities.”

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The world first will add an extra dimension to the already well-respected online casino brand and give players the chance to experience something new and exciting.

The Magical Forest 3D slot is available exclusively at 888games and can be viewed through a pair of those 3D glasses you used to get on the back of cereal packets. No need for 3D TV or anything.

Chief Operations Officer at 888casino, Itai Pazner, said: “We are extremely pleased to announce the latest unique innovation in the online casino industry. There is absolutely no question that 3D gaming is the next big innovation in online gaming.”

“888.com once again responds to players’ and the market’s needs by expanding the boundaries and opening the arena to the next generation in online gaming experiences with 3D casino games.”

One of the more recently launched gaming portal’s, 1Bet.com, has gone live with help from CXTM and Sunplus.

The company’s primary focus will be the saturated sportsbook market in Western Europe but there are also plans to go as far afield as Russia and Asia in the future.

A spokesperson for 1Bet.com said of the deal: “CTXM’s casino platform was a perfect fit for our operation and enabled us to greatly reduce our time to market whereas the Sunplus ONEbook platform enabled us to offer the industry’s richest sportsbook software that has live betting across thousands of games.”

Keep a look out for them in the coming months even if you do only the visit the site to put on a single wager. Unless, that’s the whole point of the name after all?

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Liberium Capital had already rated the fledgling firm as a “sell” with a target price of 850p before the price dipped below the 900p for the first time since their IPO in October of last year.

At the time of writing, the price wass at 886p and could slip even further as results are expected to have been adversely affected by event cancellations and poor weather before Christmas.

Betfair, along with 888.com, also saw the long arm of the law following a spate of misleading advertising from the two firms.

Industry watchdog the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) pulled Betfair up after 10 complaints were filed against a “Happy Hour” email campaign in relation to having 50% reload bonuses removed from their accounts without notice.

The judgment against 888.com is in relation to a TV advert that was quoted as saying “£8,888,888 could be yours, only at 888.com. Get eight spins absolutely free. No deposit. No charge.”

It was fine until it was discovered that you had wager a certain amount of money before any of the winnings could be reaped and spent on 8,888,888-penny sweets. Although this only received one complaint, it still goes to show that gambling adverts that are anything but black and white usually come to the attention of the ASA.

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After a weekend that saw the likelihood of 888 teaming up with Ladbrokes diminishing and today seeing them release a fairly impressive set of figures, a sponsorship deal was probably the crowning glory that their Monday needed. (Here’s a hint…they got it!)

Ahead of the season beginning this Thursday night, 888.com was today announced as the title sponsor of the 2011 season of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Premier League Darts. It marks yet another gaming firm entering into an agreement with the darts, and follows Bodog’s successful sponsorship of the World Grand Prix in October.

“We are delighted to welcome 888.com back into darts as the title sponsor for the Premier League Darts,” said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn.

“This tournament has emerged as the biggest indoor sporting event in the country in recent years and we look forward to welcoming a record number of fans to the country’s 15 biggest arenas.

“With television coverage being shown worldwide, the 888.com Premier League Darts will provide an ideal showcase for 888.com’s online casino and poker brands.”

Adi Soffer-Te’eni, Managing Director of 888.com, stated: “We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to once again be involved with this event.

“Over the years the Premier League Darts has grown substantially and now with an international reach we feel it’s the perfect time to align our brands again.”

Phil Taylor will again be favourite for the 15 week long tournament and if you throw into the equation that he won it last time 888 sponsored it then he hasn’t as good a chance as any.

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For months speculation has been mounting as to whether Ladbrokes will take over the online gambling site but reports in yesterday’s Daily Mail seem to suggest that this won’t be happening any time soon.

The issue seems to be price as with the rapidly falling share price 888 is no longer worth the original £240m price Ladbrokes offered. The Mail quoted a source close to the negotiations saying: “The share price of 888.com was about £1 then whereas it’s more like 40p now. The markets have changed.”

The fact the deals on the rocks might be enough to alert Playtech after they’d earlier offered lower (£210m) than Ladbrokes after the Lads had opened up the bidding.

The online gaming firm also chose today to release their figures for the final quarter of the year and as the doom mongers gathered, they were sadly to be disappointed.

As a group, 888’s total operating income rose to $71m in the quarter, which was 18% up on the previous three-month period. They also announced an increase of 23% from 2009 in accounts to the end of December, as they had 8.7million casino, poker, and sport real money registered accounts.

CEO Gigi Levy said: “We are very pleased with the results delivered during the last quarter of 2010 – especially the record 18% quarterly sequential growth.

“Our marketing activities have driven record numbers of players to our sites, and growth was achieved across our business lines.

“We are particularly encouraged by our poker business, which showed 28% sequential growth.

“2011 has started well and given that our various business initiatives are progressing as planned we expect to grow the business further during the year.”

According to CityAM, they’re also expected to announce that the deal with Ladbrokes is still well and truly on. Won’t be long until 8pm.com then!

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Just weeks after Ladbrokes made what one industry analyst described as a ‘desperate gamble’ by offering £240m to acquire 888 Holdings, a new suitor for the flagging online entity has made his intentions known. According to Israeli financial daily Calcalist, software developers Playtech have entered the stage, professing their undying affection for 888, despite the old girl’s tits having sagged dramatically over the past year. Thing is, Playtech are reportedly offering £210m to acquire 888. While that’s demonstrably above 888’s market capitalization of £169m, did they not notice the £240m figure stated above? Does the phrase ‘a day late, £30m short’ spring to anyone’s mind?

Finally, The Weather Lottery, the UK’s leading lottery fundraiser, has decided to stop this mucking about and get properly stuck in to the online gaming world. Spurred by an 8% decline in revenues last year, the company has announced that it’s diversifying into poker, sportsbooks and online casinos. They’ve already taken a step toward the former, having paid £330k in November to acquire Devilfish Poker. As for future acquisitions, we suggest they wait a few more months, then issue a lowball offer for 888.com. By that point, the bidding should have dropped to the price of a pint and a pack of cigarettes.

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We think Wachman’s got things wrong here (and not just because the website misspelled Ladbrokes as ‘Labrokes’). 888 stopped serving US customers in 2006, following passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). While the DoJ claims that 888 owes them $120m in penalties for serving US customers, US courts have issued rulings that the Wire Act applies specifically to sports betting, yet 888 didn’t launch their sportsbetting channel until 2008.

Ladbrokes, on the other hand, is first and foremost a sportsbetting company. Despite their post-UIGEA public pronouncement that they were rethinking plans to enter the US market, presumably, at some point in their illustrious history, Ladbrokes has taken at least one bet from a US citizen. So it’s theoretically possible that 888 shareholders are the ones that should be concerned by a possible union with Ladbrokes. (It’s also possible that Guardian writers would be better informed on these issues if they spent more time reading CalvinAyre.com. Just sayin’. Come for the topless ladies, but stay for the world class online gaming info.)

That said, we think the odds of Ladbrokes CEO Richard Glynn being targeted for extraditon are slim, as the US appears to be losing interest in using its criminal justice system to go after international gambling operators. Instead, US law enforcement is focusing its attention on the eCom operations of big pure poker companies like PokerStars and Full Tilt.

Anyway, US legal issues are the least of Ladbrokes’ worries at present. With no clear vision of where it wants/needs to go, Ladbrokes has problems that no messy takeover – especially of a company undergoing its own competitive challenges – can solve. Truth be told, there are so many obstacles in CEO Richard Glynn’s path that, should he somehow manage to pull this off, he could sell the story to Hollywood as an addendum to the Lord Of The Rings franchise.

But hey… We wish Frodo, er, Richard luck in his quest. Ladbrokes is a fixture in our industry, and the gambling world would be a poorer place without them in it.

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The reaction is also fairly positive amongst the rest of the online gaming industry. That is, except over at Microgaming, who are looking at a fairly Grinchy holiday season if this deal is consummated. If/when Ladbrokes switches over to 888’s poker network and casino platform – and let’s face it, why else would Ladbrokes be doing this deal – Microgaming loses its biggest B2B customer.

For Ladbrokes, the deal would definitely improve their online presence, but that’s sort of like saying the coronary patient whose condition was upgraded from ‘grave’ to ‘critical’ is feeling much better now. With 888’s fortunes having taken a serious tumble this year, Ladbrokes is not acquiring an industry leader. Until Ladbrokes acquires such a leader, questions will remain as to whether the company can compete with the online big boys.

The wild card in this takeover scenario is Caesars (ex-Harrah’s) and the online initiative they signed with 888 a while back. Is Caesars Interactive’s diminutive (figuratively and literally) CEO Mitch Garber – who, despite having convinced most of the gaming media that he’s built and/or run an online gaming company, has done neither — going to be happy getting his technology courtesy of Ladbrokes now?

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The latest news, minus Dragonfish suit, is that 888.com’s successful B2B arm has signed an agreement to launch a comprehensive casino product in association with Spin Win Entertainment Ltd.

It will be available as a download or web-based application looking at the European and Latin American markets in particular. As part of the agreement Spin Win has picked a number of specific products from Dragonfish including games, back office, CRM, VIP management, business analytics, 24/7 customer support and e-payments.

Zerah commented: “I am delighted that Spin Win has selected Dragonfish as their preferred partner for casino and bingo software. Our focus is on providing partners with flexible gaming solutions to complement their existing assets. The Spin Win team’s wealth of knowledge in the gaming and entertainment industry provides a solid base from which to build, and we look forward to helping them grow Spin Win into a successful business.”

Surprised at the sight of Zerah in the Dragonfish suit, Jonathan Preminger, Owner, Spin Win Entertainment Limited, said: “We look forward to partnering with Dragonfish and the 888 holdings family, whose integrity with both their partners and with their players and affiliates, goes hand in hand with their commitment to innovation and player value creation. We are excited to launch the most advanced and innovative online casino operation to date, with a focus on the most exciting new games available in the industry and a very unique and personal player proposition.”

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888.com’s award winning B2B division has teamed up with the Microgaming powered Prima Networks Ltd to provide the new joint venture. It will offer a cabinet of games, multiple tournaments, and a fully customized poker solution. MD at Dragonfish, David Zerah, also hopes that the unique nature of the network will make it a winner.

“The launch of each new partner helps to grow our French poker network as we seek to build market share. Through appealing to the more casual poker player, Poker Subito offers players something different, and we look forward to working with them to help maximize its potential. We have several more partners in the pipeline and look forward to making further announcements in the near future,” he said.

Alongside the Poker Subito launch will come an aggressive marketing campaign in the coming months in order to increase their share of the distinctive French market further.

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Compared with the same period last year, total B2C income was up 14% for the first nine months of year to $162m. They hit the jackpot in their increasingly successful bingo division though. B2C operating profit here was up 356% for the nine months to September 2009 to $36m.

Dragonfish’s total B2B operating income, however, was down 27% Q3 2009 and stood at $9million, but as CEO Gigi Levy explained there is no reason to be overly worried.

“We are pleased with the results achieved during the third quarter. Our business showed resilience during the historical seasonally weak summer period, with growth in Poker. The fourth quarter has started well and given that our various business initiatives are progressing as planned we expect to grow the business further during the year.”

These results, combined with the fact that as of September they had 8.2m Casino, Poker, and Sport real money accounts registered, an increase of 21% on September 2009, leave plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

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Take the case of 888.com, last seen bleeding money and shedding staff like so many unwanted pounds in an effort to fit into the prom dress it bought earlier this year. 888 knows that the merger mania gripping the industry is almost entirely predicated on the prospect of legal online gaming coming to the US market in the not too distant future. Anything that might cause the moral watchdogs of the American right to point the finger of scorn at online gaming – like, say, a highly publicized sports corruption story – might set those prospects back a good long while, if not indefinitely. And then 888 will have to stay home, in front of the TV, eating bon-bons, getting fatter and dreaming of what might have been. Read more.

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Trouble is, even if these merger-mad companies do what’s expected of them, there’s no quid pro quo guarantee that they’ll ever be granted access to a (for the moment entirely theoretical) liberalized US market, or whether such a market would permit licensed entities to mingle their US liquidity with non-US residents. How will shareholders react when they realize they’ve let their boards of directors pay out tens of millions of dollars for little or no tangible return? (If it helps, try to envision the final scenes of Frankenstein, you know, with the angry mob and the torches and pitchforks and such…)

Meanwhile, as boards hold endless meetings to debate how big a check to cut, private operators such as PokerStars go about their business, offering services to US customers from their existing international base, using their mammoth liquidity to trump other advantages. Call it the ‘bald eagle in the hand’ strategy, but for the moment, it’s the one that’s working. Read more.

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