Gamesys buys Virgin; Trade Chase aiming to please; NetPlay TV exceeding expectations

news in brief may 2Operator and developer Gamesys has made its latest acquisition by buying Virgin Games from respected entrepreneur Richard Branson. The deal, reported by eGR, will allow Gamesys to release a number of “real money and social gaming propositions” around the world using the Virgin brand. No financial terms were disclosed with a spokesperson from Gamesys adding that Virgin Games will move onto the Gamesys platform and relaunch in the UK later on this quarter. Both sides are happy with the deal that will give Gamesys access to one of the strongest brands in the world and in itself that is something to be applauded. It should be noted that Virgin Games differs from Virgin Gaming, the interesting project that is aiming to marry together video gaming and gambling. Gamesys earlier this year became the first company to launch real-money gambling on Facebook with the Friendzy app. It’s a partnership that this deal will help build on and when you consider this the excitement emanating from Virgin and Gamesys is understandable.

Stock market betting site Trade Chase has added a new game to its portfolio as it looks to attract a different clientele to the site. Up or Down will allow players to trade on short-term movements in the stock market and is being marketed as an easier version of the complex world of binary options trading. Colin Smith, co-founder of the firm, stated “there is no reason why this form of trading should only be enjoyed by a small number of city slickers”. The game works by players choosing a company, currency or commodity and then making a stake of anything from 10p upwards – the real novices can even play for free. You then decide if it will go up or down in the following two minutes and if you guess right you win. Simples.

NetPlay TV cited strong performance in the final quarter of the year as it prepared to release “ahead of market expectations” results for 2012. A higher number of new and total depositing customers has meant growth of 29 percent compared with Q4 2011 and the amount of players using mobile and tablets is now 31 percent of all depositors – a figure that was just 8 percent in Q4 2011. The firm points to TV ads for Supercasino.com and Jackpot247.com that focus on mobile as the reason for their success in this area and directors are “pleased” with the company’s continued strong performance.