Betsson has become the latest firm to move their poker offering to Microgaming’s Poker Network (MPN). The shift was expected as the Swedish operator’s subsidiary Betsafe has already opened up a new skin on the MPN and given that Betsson has one skin on the IGT/Entraction Network this is hardly a surprise. Microgaming confirmed that Betsson.com will be one of the first to go live with their new lobby design and the Swedish firm was a key cog in the design process. Henric Andersson, Product Director at Betsson Group, added: “The MPN is one of the world’s most established online poker networks; naturally we are delighted to be joining the MPN. At Betsson.com, we strive to create the finest gaming experience for our players and we are confident that by adding the MPN to our offering, we will deliver an exceptional experience to all of our poker players.
We contacted Betsson to find out if this means the end of their skin on the Ongame Network, as well as the IGT/Entraction skin, and at the time of writing we still hadn’t received a reply. It’s expected they will run the two side-by-side.
Sportech has indicated that trading is in line with expectations even with “slower than expected” performance from the iGaming operations. The firm released an interim management statement (IMS) that stated the company as a whole is performing as expected with Hurricane Sandy not making a huge impact on their operations. In their Sportech Racing division, their new online software remains on track to be available to customers from next Spring. iGaming was one area that saw slow growth with “brand changes” and “system migrations” apportioned the blame.
Lottomatica Group oversaw a slight revenue decrease in Q3 as problems in the Italian market continue to bite. Revenue for the company as a whole dropped by 0.1 percent to €740.2million with strong growth from both GTECH Lottery and SPIELO International not able to arrest the declines seen in Southern Europe. Revenues in Italy were down to €406.5m from €458.5m in the same period last year and it was blamed on poor performance from the company’s machine business and higher-than-expected payouts on sports betting. As a part of this, interactive wagers also dropped from €533m last year to €485.4m this year. GTECH Lottery, meanwhile, saw revenue increase 15.4 percent to €261.1m and SPIELO also saw a revenue rise of 25.6 percent to €82.7m thanks to high sales in Canada and Sweden.
