Daly rejoins SHFL from Bally

Posted on January 21, 2013 by t.washington

After three years with the Nevada supplier in the mid-2000s, Daly returns as VP of online gaming

Former SHFL Entertainment product manager Michael Daly has rejoined the company after several years with fellow Nevada egaming licensee Bally Technologies, taking on the role of VP of online gaming.

MIT graduate Daly first joined the company, which received its Nevada online poker licence last year, in 2003 as product manager for the service provider’s electronic gaming tables. He remained with SHFL – then known as Shuffle Master – for close to three years before joining Bally.

His six-year spell with Bally included several months as a senior director of its online arm, Bally Interactive, after its creation in October 2011, remaining with the business as it acquired Chiligaming’s iGaming Platform which has been behind the setup of freeplay online offerings for the land-based Mohegan Sunand Golden Nugget casinos.

Daly’s appointment is the second in recent months from SHFL with online activities in mind, after Nick Gabriel was brought in late last year to head up the company’s online division.

SHFL, which rebranded from Shuffle Master last October, has secured egaming licences in both Alderney and Gibraltar in recent months as it increases its online presence.

Last month saw the company strike a deal with Amaya Gaming which will see SHFL act as the exclusive distributor of the Canadian company’s online poker and gaming platforms in the United States.

Mohegan Sun chooses Ongame for online poker

Posted on November 27, 2012 by t.washington

Deal is first for network since it was acquired by Amaya Gaming – East Coast operator to launch freeplay offering in “early 2013”

Amaya Gaming has announced its first deal involving Ongame since completing its acquisition of the poker network, agreeing to provide a freeplay poker offering for Connecticut-based Mohegan Sun Casino.

The operator – run by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority – has chosen Ongame from the available options on Bally’s iGaming Platform, with which it signed up last month. The online offering – through the mohegansun.com domain – will be complemented by mobile and tablet versions.

It claims to be the first east-coast US land-based operator to move into online poker, and Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority CEO Mitchell Etess said: “We have been looking for the best possible fit for a poker partner for over 6 months.

“Mohegan Sun needs a provider who has outstanding regulatory experience and flexibility to offer intra-state play-for-free poker at first, and the technology to enable real money online poker when it is legalized. We are proud to announce that this partner is Ongame,” he added.

Mohegan Sun will be second land-based operator to move online with the iGaming Platform, following Golden Nugget’s freeplay launch using Winamax software.

A third operator, Nevada-licensed American Casino Entertainment Properties (owner of the Stratosphere casino in the Silver State) has also agreed to join the platform, which Bally acquired from Chiligaming in February.

Ongame managing director Peter Bertilsson (pictured) said: “It is exciting to be part of the move online for one of the most dynamic and expansive casino operators in the United States.”

Bally appoints new chief executive

Posted on November 14, 2012 by r.weston

Ramesh Srinivasan replaces Richard Haddrill as CEO of gaming technology supplier

Bally Technologies has announced that Richard Haddrill will leave his role as CEO of the company to be replaced by current president and chief operating officer Ramesh Srinivasan.

Haddrill (pictured) leaves his post after eight years, and will become chairman of the company’s board, with the change-over to take place on 31 December. Bally’s current chairman Kevin Verner will become lead independent director, freeing up his current position.

“Ramesh and I have been great business partners over the past 13 years across two companies and these changes reflect the continued natural evolution of our roles and responsibilities,” Haddrill said of the reshuffle. “We have built a deep group of leaders at Bally and Ramesh has proven his ability to lead the team.”

Srinivasan joined Bally in 2005 as executive vice president of systems, overseeing the growth of the supplier’s systems business, before he was promoted to president and COO in March 2011. Previously he worked alongside Haddrill for software supplier Manhattan Associates.

The new CEO said he was “honored” to have taken on the role at what he described as “an exciting time in [the] company’s 80-year history”.

“We are on a very good track for the coming years. I am very enthusiastic about the many opportunities I see to serve existing customers, expand our customer base, continue to provide growth opportunities for our people and increase shareholder value,” Srinivasan added.

After receiving a Nevada online poker licence in June this year, Bally has seen a number of operators sign up to its iGaming Platform, which was acquired from Chiligaming in February. The operators which have signed up to the platform include Nevada licensees Golden Nugget and American Casino and Entertainment Properties and Mohegan Sun Casinos, which has venues in Pennsylvania and Conneticut.

Just yesterday the company announced a partial revival of its B2B partnership with the newly-rebranded SHFL Entertainment, which will see SHFL’s table games added to the iGaming Platform. The deal was originally agreed in June, but described as “no longer in effect” after the company formerly known as Shuffle Master pulled out of its agreement to buy the Ongame poker network from bwin.party.

Meanwhile in October the company posted its fifth consecutive quarter of year-on-year earnings growth, with record Q1 revenues of US$235m up 21% on the first quarter of 2011.

Robin Harrison

Boyd, Fertitta and Golden Nugget gain Nevada licences

Posted on October 19, 2012 by r.weston

Trio receive operator licences, with Boyd and Fertitta also awarded manufacturer licences

Boyd Interactive Gaming, Fertitta Interactive and Golden Nugget have been approved for operator licences to offer online poker in Nevada following a Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) hearing.

In addition, Boyd and Fertitta were licensed as manufacturers, although the former will wait until London-listed operator bwin.party – which agreed a 15-year agreement with Boyd last year to use its technology platform in the US – is licensed by the NGC before launching its online offering.

In contrast, Fertitta is using its own technology, thanks to last year’s acquisition of CyberArts, and will aim to offer online poker under the Ultimate Gaming brand as soon as its systems are approved by one of Nevada’s independent testing labs. A freeplay poker game, Ultimate Poker, was launched on Facebook in July.

Golden Nugget did not apply for a manufacturer licence because it will use a platform run by Bally Technologies, which was one of the first companies licensed for online poker in Nevada. A freeplay site went live in June, using Winamax software, as a result of Golden Nugget’s deal with the platform’s previous owner Chiligaming, before Bally acquired the platform in February.

Boyd, Fertitta and Golden Nugget had all received recommendations from the state’s Gaming Control Board earlier this month.

Boyd and Fertitta on GCB agenda

Posted on September 28, 2012 by r.weston

Golden Nugget will also go before Nevada State Gaming Control Board as all three bid for online poker operator licences

Boyd Interactive, Fertitta Interactive and Golden Nugget have become the latest licence applicants to be added to the Nevada State Gaming Control Board (GCB) agenda.

All three have applied for online poker operator licences and will see their applications go before the GCB on 3-4 October. It will be the first meeting of the regulatory board to be held without the involvement of Mark Lipparelli after the chairman announced his decision to step down from the role at the end of this month.

While the application from Golden Nugget is for operator status only, Boyd and Fertitta Intertactive are also pursuing licensure as service providers in the Silver State.

Boyd’s application followed a deal signed last year with London-listed operator bwin.party, which would see it acquire a 10% stake in a proposed new company offering US-facing online poker under bwin.party’s existing brands. It simultaneously reached a 15-year agreement to use its partner’s technology platform to offer online poker to a US audience (regulation permitting) under a brand of its own.

Fertitta Interactive’s application was initially submitted in February this year, and in the intervening period it has formally launched Ultimate Gaming, a real-money and social gaming brand which has released the freeplay Facebook app Ultimate Poker.

The third applicant, Golden Nugget, has also launched a freeplay offering in recent months, going live on Bally Technologies’ igaming platform aftersigning a deal with the platform’s previous owner Chiligaming in February.

Bally itself is already licensed in Nevada, having been among the first wave of companies to receive service provider accreditation in June this year.

So far only three operator licences have been awarded by the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC), with last week’s approval for American Casino Entertainment Properties (ACEP) seeing the Stratosphere owner join Monarch Interactive and South Point Poker in being given the green light to offer online poker in the jurisdiction.

A further seven companies have been awarded licences of other varieties, including the first Nevada-licensed poker marketing affiliate PokerTrip Enterprises.

Tom Victor

Muckleshoot Tribe invests in social betting game

Posted on July 31, 2012 by t.washington

Federally recognised Washington State tribe makes first move into online gaming

The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe of Washington State has entered into an equity partnership with social betting game Bookie Mania.

Bookie Mania was founded by ex-Chiligaming director Rohin Malhotra and is set to go live on Facebook in September, with other platforms and languages to follow.

It will act as a social betting exchange, allowing players to buy virtual currency so that wagers can be made between friends on anything from sporting events to the weather.

The deal – the financial details of which are yet to be disclosed – is the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s first venture into online gaming and could signal its intent to explore real-money gambling opportunities should Washington State pass the required regulation. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a federally recognised tribe which owns the Muckleshoot casino in Washington State.

Malhotra said of the deal: “Bookie Mania is thrilled to have entered into an agreement with Muckleshoot Indian Tribe for a share in our business. It provides our business with more than just investment but also a deep relationship with this resourceful Tribe, its operation and its people.”

The Washington state legislature passed a bill that outlawed online gaming and poker in 2006 – a law that was upheld four years later. Since then online gaming firms have pulled out of the juristiction, including Pokerstars which ceased taking bets in October 2010 and Full Tilt just one month later.

Several other US tribes have entered into deals with online gaming firms this year as they begin to shape up for a regulated online gambling market.

Bwin.party announced a 10-year B2B deal with the United Auburn Indian Tribe Community (UAIC) in May to offer online poker services in California “if suitable intrastate legislation is enacted in the state”, while gaming technology provider GTECH G2 has also partnered with two Indian tribes – Barona in California and Seneca Niagara in New York State – to launch free play casino sites.

Earlier this month Boyd Gaming struck a deal with the Wilton Rancheria tribe in California. It is the first time the company has made plans to operate in the state and represents a vital in-road into the state where the online gambling market could be worth $5.5bn by year five of operations, according to H2 Gambling Capital.

Meanwhile Native American groups have moved to protect their interests ahead of state-by-state egaming regulation by introducing a draft tribal gaming bill at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA) last week. The Tribal Online Gaming Act of 2012 is designed to help ensure tribes are well positioned to benefit from legal online gambling in the US, without compromising their revenues and sovereignty and calls on federal government to implement nationwide laws concerning the regulation of online gaming.

Ongame deal with Bally still active

Posted on July 4, 2012 by t.washington

Gaming technology provider says poker agreement with Shuffle Master “no longer in effect” after collapse of its deal to acquire Swedish network, but could be revived

Ongame’s memorandum of understanding with Bally Technologies remains valid despite the collapse of Shuffle Master’s deal to acquire the network, the Nevada-licensed company has confirmed.

Speaking to eGaming Review, Bally’s vice president of business development John Connelly (pictured) explained: “When we signed our MoU with Shuffle Master we also had Ongame sign it, so even if their deal fell through we could keep moving forward. The deal with Ongame is still in effect now.”

The memorandum of understanding was signed between Bally, Aristocrat, Shuffle Master and Ongame last month, shortly after Bally’s strategic alliance with Aristocrat which would see the two companies pool poker liquidity in a regulated US market.

Connelly confirmed that “Our MoU with Shuffle Master is no longer in effect now they have backed away from a poker perspective, but we are in discussions with regards to integrating their table games to the Bally platform and we will continue to have a relationship with them.

“We would be prepared to revive the MoU if Shuffle Master buys someone else in the poker space – there is already a good relationship between the two organisations,” he added.

As the igaming platform allows for the integration of more than one provider for poker and other verticals, the incorporation of any new poker software would not affect the Ongame deal.

Several months after agreeing to acquire the Swedish poker network for an initial €19.5m, the US-facing supplier pulled out of the deal on the basis of uncertainties regarding the US regulatory landscape as well as economic issues across Ongame’s European markets.

eGR has since learned that at least five companies are in talks to acquire Ongame, with social gaming operator Zynga understood to be the frontrunner at present.

Bally’s igaming platform, acquired from Chiligaming earlier this year, has already integrated Winamax’s poker software, used by Golden Nugget for its freeplay online poker offering, which went live last week.

“In Golden Nugget’s case they felt Winamax was the right choice for them for poker, with Winamax being a proven poker product and performing well in France, but we’re also in discussion with other poker suppliers as well as those affiliated with sports, bingo and casino games,” Connelly said.

He noted that a number of operators have expressed an interest in using Ongame poker software within the wider framework of the igaming platform, although he recognised that “Ongame will have to bring a great level of clarity for those customers in terms of what they will commit to going forward.”

Shuffle Master pulls out of Ongame deal

Posted on June 27, 2012 by r.weston

Land-based gaming supplier withdraws from €19.5m ($25.7m) acquisition of poker network – bwin.party to reopen talks with other interested parties

The sale of bwin.party’s Ongame poker network to Shuffle Master has fallen through after the companies “mutually agreed” to cancel the deal, the London-listed business announced to the market this morning.

In a statement bwin.party reaffirmed its commitment to selling “surplus assets, including Ongame” and revealed that it is “re-engaging” with other companies which had previously shown an interest in acquiring the network.

A spokesman for bwin.party told eGaming Review this morning: “This doesn’t cause us concern, and we are confident that we can conclude a deal with an alternative third party.”

The reasons for Shuffle Master’s withdrawal from the deal are not yet fully clear, but eGR understands that it relates to the company’s concerns about the current economic situation in Europe and entering various markets when it has previously been almost exclusively US-focused.

This may relate to some of the network’s skins which operate in grey or unlicensed European markets, or in countries experiencing severe economic difficulties such as Greece, Spain and Italy.

The supplier is set to release a statement explaining its decision later today, though it is unknown whether it will reveal a revised strategy to offer online poker in the US. It also remains unclear whether the lack of an online poker offering will affect Shuffle Master’s Nevada license application. Both licensed US suppliers – Bally Technologies and IGT – can offer online poker with Bally acquiring Chiligaming’s iGaming Platform in February this year and believed to have partnered with Winamax alongside Golden Nugget to offer freeplay poker, and IGT buying the Entraction Poker network in May last year.

It also throws into doubt the partnership between Bally, Aristocrat Gaming and Shuffle Master, agreed earlier this month. The deal would have seen Ongame’s poker product offered on Bally’s iGaming Platform, with Aristocrat able to offer the network’s poker content to its land-based casino customers as part of its online games portfolio.

The €19.5 ($25.7m) acquisition was originally agreed in March this year after bwin.party announced its intention to sell Ongame in February 2011, ahead of the companies’ merger. In a statement released in June 2011 the operator stated that “any sale will be completed by the end of the year,” but this fell behind schedule.

At the time Shuffle Master CEO Gavin Isaacs explained: “Poker is a natural fit for our table-centric online offerings and our many jurisdictional licenses present a compelling opportunity for our current and future online customers.”

The deal included a provision which would have seen the acquisition price rise by “up to €10m in cash within five years of closing, contingent upon the commencement of legalised, real-money online poker in the US within such period,” though the €10m was to decrease each year of the five year period.

Bwin paid €474m to acquire the network in 2005, less than a year before the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was introduced, forcing the company to withdraw from the US market in late 2006.

Robin Harrison

Bally recommended for Nevada’s first online licence

Posted on June 7, 2012 by r.weston

Final decision to be made by Nevada Gaming Commission on 21 June

Bally Technologies has received a recommendation from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB) for the first online gaming licence in the US.

The GCB’s recommendation on Wednesday was unanimous and is scheduled to be reviewed by the Nevada Gaming Commission on 21 June, when a final decision will be made.

The licence would enable the company to provide online operations for licensed land-based casinos in Nevada to offer internet poker.

John Connelly, VP of Business Development at Bally Technologies, told eGR North America he was very pleased that the company is the first to be recommended out of all the European online platforms.

“We are very excited to be the first not only in Nevada, but first in the US,” he said. “We feel this justifies our approach. Now the key is to keep that leadership position. There’s still a lot of work to be done. The GCB has recommended us, now the Commission must validate that recommendation and we see no reason why that wouldn’t happen.”

During the hearing, Bally executives also encouraged the control board to approve internet poker on mobile devices, saying that studies show more people access the internet through a mobile device rather than a desktop computer.

“We feel strongly that handheld devices are the future for many many reasons, when looking at the statistics,” Connelly added.

Bally Technologies was one of the first gaming companies to apply for an online licence in Nevada, along with International Game Technology (IGT), since Governor Brian Sandoval signed the state’s egaming bill into law last year. More than 20 applications have been made, with the likes of MGM and Boyd Gaming among the applicants.

The manufacturer moved online in February year, launching its remote gaming server, and recently applied for online gambling licences in both Gibraltar and Alderney. That launch was followed by Bally’s acquisition of Chiligaming’s B2B iGaming Platform, which boasts Golden Nugget as its first partner and is set to bring the land-based casino online in the near future.

In March this year the company entered into an agreement with Aristocrat for the potential pooling of poker liquidity in a regulated American market.

William Hill is scheduled to have its application reviewed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board today, while IGT’s will be reviewed on 16 June.

Bally Technologies CEO Richard Haddrill (pictured) said he was grateful for the Board’s recommendation.

“This is a historic day for Bally Technologies, for Nevada, and for the gaming industry,” he said. “We are proud to achieve yet another milestone in our 80-year history and look forward to further supporting our Nevada casino customers with our technology in this exciting arena.”

Facebook IPO third-largest in US history

Posted on May 18, 2012 by t.washington

Starting price of US$38 a share places social network ahead of General Motors, behind only Visa and Enel SpA

Social network Facebook is anticipated to raise US$16bn at its initial public offering today, making it the largest ever IPO for a technology company and the third-largest ever on US soil.

The valuation comes from a starting share price of $38, putting the company behind only credit card firm Visa and Italian power company Enel SpA. The 2010 float of motoring giant General Motors raised $15.8bn while Google’s IPO eight years ago raised $1.67bn.

Shares in Facebook will begin trading at 11am Eastern Time today (4pm BST), with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s (pictured) estimated $18.95bn fortune expected to soar.

Google’s market cap at the time of flotation was $23bn, while Facebook – after increasing the size of the float by close to 25% earlier this week – is expected to be valued at $104bn. Zynga raised $1bn in a December flotation which valued the company at nine times that amount.

The IPO may convince Facebook to speed up its online gambling plans,revealed exclusively by eGaming Review in November last year, with tentative preparations in place to open up real-money gambling on a trial basis in the United Kingdom.

Last August saw the company relax its egaming advertising restrictions, although actual gambling games on the network remain restricted to freeplay or virtual credits.

This has not stopped a number of egaming operators and service providers go live with Facebook apps of their own, with Chiligaming launching a free-to-play poker network last year and IGT buying existing Facebook games developer Double Down Interactive in January for a sum which could rise as high as $500m.

Earlier this week Double Down added Texas Hold’Em Poker to its Facebook casino, while yesterday saw social games publisher Hooplo Media launchgames based on athlete Usain Bolt and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.