Tuesday, February 26, 2013

news.casinolife

news.casinolife

Competition Commission clears way for Rank Group to purchase Gala Casinos

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 11:53 AM PST

 

The Rank Group Plc (“Rank”) announced that it had conditionally agreed to acquire Gala Casinos Limited (“GCL”) from Gala Coral Group Limited (“Gala Coral”). That conditional agreement (the “Original Agreement”) envisaged Rank purchasing 23 casinos and three non-operating casino licences (the “Proposed Acquisition”).

The Original Agreement anticipated the possibility of the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) requiring a limited number of casinos to be excluded from the Proposed Acquisition.

Rank shareholder approval for the Proposed Acquisition was obtained at a general meeting of Rank held on 26 July 2012.On 20 August 2012 the OFT referred the Proposed Acquisition to the Competition Commission for an in-depth merger review and therefore the Original Agreement lapsed on 19 September 2012.

The Competition Commission has published its final report following completion of its review of the Proposed Acquisition. Rank is pleased that it will be able to proceed with the purchase of 19 of the 23 casinos originally comprised within the Proposed Acquisition, as well as three non-operating licences (subject to agreeing in the next few weeks appropriate remedy undertakings with the Competition Commission in relation to Rank’s non-operating licence in Edinburgh and the four casinos to be retained by Gala Coral).

Rank and Gala Coral are continuing their discussions in relation to appropriate amendments to the terms of the Proposed Acquisition in light of today’s Competition Commission report.

Rank expects to make a further announcement shortly.

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Facebook to present to leaders of the igaming community in London

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 08:16 AM PST

 

 

25 February 2013 London  Facebook's recent move to host real money bingo products by Jackpotjoy and 888 highlights the social media website as a potentially significant gaming platform. With entry currently restricted to just two major operators there are questions being asked within the industry about how real money gambling on the leading social website will develop.

In a whitepaper released today by Bullet Business, Phil Fraser, founder of the UK's largest bingo affiliate, WhichBingo.co.uk describes Facebook's role as being a giant affiliate. But a firm understanding of what role the social media leader will play in the gambling industry remains uncertain.

Click here for whitepaper: http://www.bulletbusiness.com/bingo/content.php

Bullet Business today announces that Bruce Bale, EMEA Gaming Manager, Facebook and Will Collins, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Facebook will present at the Online Bingo Summit, the world's largest industry event for the bingo vertical.

View event website here: http://www.bulletbusiness.com/bingo/index.php

Keir Hutton Ferris, Associate Head of Research, Bullet Business says: "Facebook have 1bln members and could be a game changer for the industry. It's natural that operators want to hear from the company, as they could have a significant impact on their future business."

Now in its 8th year, the Online Bingo Summit takes place May 1-2, London. This year's event, sponsored by Experian and PaySafeCard, has a focus on the social and mobile future of bingo.

 

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Social Casino Summit launches alongside the leading industry event that analyses the future of iGaming in North America

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 05:34 AM PST

LONDON (February 25) – It was at last year's GiGse in April in San Francisco that social casino category was reported to be the biggest revenue generator out of all gaming categories on Facebook. Since then, social casino, which is reported to monetise five-times better than other social games, is the most debated trend not just in the social gaming circles, but also in the gambling sector trying to figure out its value as a marketing tool or as a business on its own.

The social casino vertical is getting crowded with new games being launched every day and game development powerhouses rushing to tap into this winning category, which has even more sophisticated game design. At the same time, the many acquisitions made by the likes of IGT, Caesars, Aristocrat, Gamesys and 888, launches on Facebook, partnerships between social game developers and iGaming operators (Plumbee and Sportingbet) and the 40-plus cooperation deals that IGT-powered DoubleDown casino has signed, keep fuelling the debate on the convergence between the two sectors.

Social game developers continue to explore partnership opportunities with the existing gambling sector, both in the United States and worldwide. The vast online customer bases that they can boast, in contrast to the lacking online presence of most US land-based businesses, position them well in the rush to regulated online gaming. These can also be used as leverage in their partnership discussions with the US land-based industry which is now devising ways to start learning the online business, build customer base and create an online brand, so it's ready to 'flip the switch' once regulated iGaming becomes fully regulated.

The future of the pure virtual currency, fremium model in social casino and the progressing convergence between social gaming and the emerging US iGaming will be discussed in-depth at the newly launched Social Casino Summit, organised alongside the 13th Global iGaming Summit & Expo (GiGse), which is the leading North American event focused exclusively on how US bricks-and-mortar businesses can transition easily, effectively and successfully to iGaming.

Topics such as game innovation, open graph, partnerships with brands, cross-product and cross-channel promotion, gaming on mobile, tablets and new platforms, social to real-money player conversion and player monetisation will be dissected by the early adopters, established leaders and new comers to this space. Speakers from RockYou, Ruby Seven Studios, Plumbee, PKR, RocketPlay, DragonPlay, Akamon Entertainment, GSN Digital, Hasbro, Mytopia, SGN, Slingo, Digital Chocolate, Playstudios and many others are amongst the confirmed speakers.

 

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