Not content with one news story today, Playtech has announced the purchase of mobile sportsbook betting platform Mobenga. The company that only this morning announced a deal with Gala Coral to supply all online gaming services and has followed it by acquiring the entire issued share capital of the mobile company. The initial fee will be €8m with it rising to as much as €23.8m by 2013.
Mobenga currently provides services to a number of major European brands such as Paddy Power, Nordicbet, Skybet, Unibet, and StanJames. Mor Weizer, chief executive at Playtech explained to eGaming Review that the industry had been “missing an opportunity” in the last few years to integrate mobile gaming and mobile sports betting.
Weizer went on the comment, “Today, if you go to one of the bookmakers and you want to use your mobile for sports betting and then you want to play a slot or spin the wheel of a roulette you have to come out of the application. The ability to integrate a complete solution that includes both sports and gaming is a real opportunity for various operators in the market.
“We realised the industry does not have a good answer for a complete solution that is fully integrated. Most players come through sports and then play games, and today mobile sports betting is totally separate from gaming. For the first time Playtech will not only become the leader in mobile but will be the only company that has a complete solution that includes both mobile sports betting and gaming.
“In the past people talked about mobile happening in two years, but something big has happened in the last year. If you review the public statements of a number of operators mobile is growing rapidly, some have even indicated that more than 30% of new users are generated through mobile.”
With Weizer also citing 10 further deals in the pipeline, it could be quite a year for the company.
