Greek gaming and lottery supplier Intralot has re-upped its IT services contract with Greek betting monopoly OPAP. The two firms have been bound together this way since 2001 and the new three-year deal will extend that relationship through to July 2016 (pending shareholder approval). OPAP issued a statement saying the deal ensured that OPAP would “continue to operate smoothly after July 2013.” Intralot must find that extra reassuring, given that it is one of seven companies short-listed to bid for the Greek government’s 33% stake in OPAP in April. The two companies are also bound together by their partnership with Scientific Games Corp. to run Greece’s Hellenic Lotteries.
Not far away, Intralot Italia has made the leap into the virtual sports market thanks to deals with game providers Kiron Interactive and Inspired Gaming Group. Management of these products through Intralot Italia’s retail network and the Intralot.it site has been assigned to Vermantia Media Group. The launch marks the first operator to take the virtual sports plunge since Italian regulators officially gave their okay last month. Inspired has been eagerly preparing for this moment, having inked ‘virtually’ the entire Italian market, including SNAI, Sisal, Lottomatica and many others.
Stateside, Intralot has launched a free-play online gambling site. DeepstackCasino.net is an online casino, poker and skill games site originally built for the District of Columbia’s DC Lottery online gambling system, which never got off the ground thanks to a bunch of DC councilors complaining that they didn’t understand what they were voting for when they voted for it. Lee Wilson, Intralot’s senior project manager, igaming, told eGamingReview that the site was easily convertible to real-money play “if the real-money market opens up” and Intralot believes it makes financial sense. Lee said the company hadn’t applied in Nevada because “the cost vs. ROI for a Nevada license doesn’t make sense at the moment.” Though designed as a B2C product, Lee says it will also serve as a white label offering for B2B clients.
