Social gaming deals: Sky Betting & Gaming, Manchester United, Inspired Gaming

skybet-openwager-kamagames-manchester-united-inspired-gamingAlderney-licensed online gambling operator Sky Betting & Gaming has inked a social gaming deal with San Francisco developer OpenWager. The new Sky Hollywood Slots social casino is now available on both Android and iOS devices, featuring a variety of original slots titles. The game is hosted by ‘talent manager Sid Sharkey,’ who invites players to participate in a variety of gigs in a quest to become movie stars.

Sky Betting’s head of social games Bruce Bale celebrated the company’s initial foray into the social casino world, which he said offered the company the chance to “engage with new customers, particularly in Western Europe, the US, Canada and Asia.” OpenWager CEO John Cahill said his firm’s platform would provide Sky’s existing customers with “an entirely different type of experience” and would allow Sky to build “a proven social-mobile stream of revenue.”

MAN U TEAMS WITH KAMAGAMES
English Premier League mainstays Manchester United have struck their first social gaming deal by signing on with Dublin-based developer KamaGames. The multi-year deal will see the launch of mobile and online platforms featuring the team’s iconography and social casino games like blackjack and roulette and KamaGames’ popular Pokerist: Texas Poker title. Man U have around 659m online acolytes while KamaGames have 70m registered players and 1m daily active users.

Man U group managing director Richard Arnold said the team understood “the importance of engaging with and entertaining our fans,” something KamaGames will allow the team to do “in new and exciting ways.” KamaGames CEO Danny Hammett said his firm was “proud and honored to be associated with such a great team and iconic brand” and vowed to build a strong relationship with the team’s fans.

INSPIRED GAMING ACQUIRE WE R INTERACTIVE
Virtual sports outfit Inspired Gaming Group has acquired UK social game developer We R Interactive, the company behind titles like We R Football and I AM PLAYR. Inspired CEO Luke Alvarez said the acquisition “reinforces our leadership in virtual sports on mobile and opens our content up to a new group of gamers.” The “passionate, smart and forward-thinking” We R Interactive staff are being retained as Alvarez found them to be “a great fit with Inspired and our culture.”