Unibet has cemented its position in the home of the kangaroo by acquiring Betchoice. Australia’s Northern Territory Racing Commission approved the deal yesterday that sees the firm acquire 100% of the company for £13.6million. The amount was paid in cash and Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Unibet, added: “We are grateful for the licensing authority’s swift processing which means that we get immediate access to the regulated Australian on-line market. The acquisition provides us with a basis to grow market share in Australia and means that Unibet’s gross winnings revenue proportion from re-regulated markets will increase.”
Social betting developer Crowdpark has made its first movement into Facebook’s casino market. Pet Vegas, a slot game, is their first casino offering on the network and includes a number of themed slots. They’ve also released AnteUp, a game that allows friends to bet together on any topic or event via Facebook and Twitter with the hope it’ll soon be available for mobile devices. There was even news on their next release, a social betting game based on football offering live bets and weekly predictions in conjunction with trivia questions.
It’s being rumored that Sportingbet is edging towards a return to the US market. Andy McIver confirmed to eGR that the firm is in talks with another party but however much they tried he just wouldn’t tell them who it is. The cheek! What he did say was: “What we would start with is trying to cement our JV relationship before defining our strategy together… we would hope [the ongoing discussions] will have a positive outcome.”
Sportingbet released disappointing results earlier today and will hope the decision to abandon its Turkish business will lead to a more favorable attitude from the US. In terms of when it will happen, McIver added: “I would be very surprised if we see any sort of federal legislation in this space in 2012. The election will definitely slow it down, as no one is going to trample on emotive topics in an election year.”
