Ladbrokes cuts costs; GameAccount opens up IGS; Unibet switches bingo net

ladbrokes-unibet-gameaccountA workforce management system developed by Alcatel-Lucent has allowed bookmakers Ladbrokes to cut staffing costs by five per cent. The system, which ‘increases employee engagement by giving each person greater control over their own schedules at their desktops’, has resulted in more accurate scheduling which has in turn reduced overtime. It has also enabled Ladbrokes to whittle down their number of different employee contracts from 30 to just eight. Wonder if Ladbrokes also called on Alcatel-Lucent to help them whittle down the number of languages they speak.

With the Italian market set to go real-money liberal in 2011, games developer GameAccount has decided to make its proprietary Internet Gaming System (IGS) available to third party content developers. GameAccount’s managing director Dermot Smurfit says the company has already completed its first bingo product platform integration and is offering an open door policy to partners with best-of-breed gaming content. GameAccount already supplies a number of Italian operators (SNAI, Lottomatica, Cogetech, etc.) and is said to be announcing another major licensee before year’s end.

Finally, Unibet has signed a multi-year deal with Playtech that will see Mariabingo.com, Bingo.com and Unibet’s other white label sites shift from its own network onto Playtech’s Virtue Fusion network. Unibet and Playtech were already B2B BFF’s via Unibet’s licensing of GTS (Playtech’s games tab platform provider) since 2006, but Playtech CEO Mor Weizer is ‘delighted to be growing our relationship.’ Gee, is that a Japanese potato in Weizer’s pocket, or is just really glad to see you(nibet)?