Tag: Industry News

A lucky player has won a mega jackpot of €6,597,136.10 on Microgaming’s immensely popular Mega Moolah Slot. This marks the fifth win of seven figures or more on Microgaming’s progressive jackpot network this year and the hundredth in its history.

Playing the classic Mega Moolah slot at Optibet.com, the winning player struck the massive prize on June 4. This latest Mega Moolah win comes just weeks after the legendary jackpot paid out a record-breaking €19.4 million win on Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah.

Microgaming’s progressive jackpot network has now paid out more the €1.4 billion to date, with over €103 million awarded across all jackpots, tiers and games so far in 2021.

“I’m delighted to see another big jackpot win so soon after Mega Moolah dropped for €19.4 million in April. My congratulations go to Optibet and their player on this brilliant win. This is something of a milestone for Microgaming, being the 100th euro millionaire made on our progressive jackpot network,” John Coleman, CEO at Microgaming, said.

“We were thrilled to hear the news that one of our players had struck the Mega jackpot on the legendary Mega Moolah. Not only was it the first Mega jackpot to be hit at Optibet.com, but it’s also a tremendous multi-million-euro prize!” Chris Davis, CPO at Optibet, said.

Gaming Innovations Group (GIG) is planning to launch two Dutch language Online Casino review sites in the Netherlands in October.

Expectations are high for both TopCasinoBonus.com and CasinoTopsOnline.com to deliver high-quality content to players, featuring trustworthy and accurate reviews on Online Casinos, bonuses and online games.

Both websites will be in line with the new Dutch gambling regulations. Once the Dutch iGaming market has re-opened, players will find reliable top-notch reviews of Online Casinos legally operating in the Netherlands, as well as information on the best casino bonuses available and tips on how to gamble responsibly and safely.

TopCasinoBonus.com was a successful Dutch website until the market closed in 2017. Now that the Dutch market will open again for online gambling, the website will be relaunched together with a Dutch version of the GiG flagship site CasinoTopsOnline.com in October 2021.

Playtech has announced that it has signed up to the All-In Diversity project – an industry-driven initiative to benchmark diversity, equality and inclusion for the global betting and gaming sector. The move comes as part of Playtech’s global sustainability strategy, Sustainable Success.

Sustainable Success is Playtech’s strategy for growing the business in a way that has a positive impact on its people, its communities, the environment and the industry.

“We are delighted to partner with All-In Diversity to help champion diversity and inclusion at Playtech, as well as within our sector. As the leading technology supplier in the industry, it is imperative to our success that we are able to lead the industry in building a sustainable, commercially viable, entertainment first industry — for the benefit of all. Partnering with the All-In Diversity Project will play an important role in supporting our efforts to promote an inclusive culture and accelerate progress on every aspect of diversity within the organisation,” Shimon Akad, Chief Operating Offer at Playtech, said.

“Playtech’s timing could not be better. As we continue to grow and align our work with the needs of the industry, having the support of established industry leaders is key to driving impactful change. This together with their commitment to the Project we are very much looking forward to their commitment and good work we can accomplish with their support,” Kelly Kehn, Co-Founder of All-in Diversity Project, said.

The Sazka Group has reported positive financial results for the first quarter of 2021.

Consolidated gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the period increased by 30% year-on-year to €526 million. Consolidated operating EBITDA increased by 20% year-on-year to €133 million. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA, which excludes certain one-off items, increased by 4% year-on-year to €144 million. Consolidated profit after tax increased by 44% year-on-year to €35 million.

Robert Chvatal, CEO of SAZKA group, said: “I am pleased to report that SAZKA Group delivered a robust performance in Q1. Our GGR increased by 30 per cent year on year and our Adjusted EBITDA increased by four per cent with a healthy margin of 51 per cent.

“The first three months of 2021 have once again shown that we are well positioned thanks to our diverse range of products, sales channels and geographical exposure, our rapidly expanding online business, our favourable cost structure, and the strong cash flow generation of our business.”

Digitain has added a new version of the classic card game Blackjack to its Fast Games portfolio.

Built in-house by the company’s game development team, Digitain’s Blackjack offers customers an alternative choice for quick-play fun featuring dynamic animation and cutting-edge design. The game features multi-channel, multi-currency capability and a flexible bonus system.

Hayk Sargsyan, Digitain’s Gaming Product Manager, said: “Digitain’s Blackjack is a wonderful addition to our growing suite of Fast Games – dynamic, colourful and exciting.

“For operators, it also offers them an excellent, fully customisable experience to both attract and engage new and existing players. I look forward to adding even more exciting content to our suite of Fast Games in the very near future.”

French casino operator Groupe Partouche has published its consolidated turnover for the second quarter of 2021 (Feb 2021 – Apr 2021).

During the second quarter, all French casinos remained closed, under general measures taken by the Government to deal with the covid-19 pandemic. Abroad, the Ostend casino (Belgium) also remained closed. The Swiss casinos of Meyrin and Crans-Montana were able to welcome their customers again from April 19, without a curfew, but respecting health constraints. The Djerba (Tunisia) casino remained open but was forced to apply a curfew starting at 10 pm.

As a result, the GGR stood at €25.1 million, down 71.1% compared to the second quarter of 2020 which started with excellent momentum before seeing the number of operating days cut by half, with the closures linked to the first confinement starting in mid-March 2020. The GGR focused exclusively on foreign casinos and more specifically on Swiss online games and online games and betting in Belgium. Their overall GGR more than doubled to reach €23.9 million, an increase of 136.6%. Net gaming revenue (NGR) excluding levies fell by 52.8 % to €22.0 million. Overall, the second quarter turnover totalled €23.6 million, down by 58.4%.

The non-gaming activity generated a turnover of €1.6 million (84.4%) linked in particular to the opening of a few hotels housed in the Group’s casinos and the Aquabella hotel in Aix-en-Provence. At the end of April, the aggregated turnover over 6 months amounted to €47.2 million, down by 74.3%, with a 70.4% decrease in Net Gaming Revenue to €44.3 million.

“After a minimum of 201 days of closure, French casinos have been welcoming their customers again since Wednesday, 19th May. Only slot machines and electronic forms of table games were accessible with the constraint of a 9 pm curfew. Nevertheless, the resumption of activity was very satisfactory. As of this day, the table games can reopen and the curfew is pushed back to 11 p.m. Moreover, a health-pass is required in the establishments where the operator decides to welcome more than 1000 people,” Groupe Partouche said.

SYNOT Games has entered into a partnership with Estoril Online casino. As per the deal, players in Portugal will now be able to access titles from SYNOT’s portfolio.

“Having our games on the online casino of Estoril Portugal asserts our position on the market. We are happy to be working with such a strong provider, which values the player and adheres to high standards of regulation and content likability,” Martina Hrabinská, CCO of SYNOT Games, said.

“We have been keeping an eye on Synot’s games performance in Portugal, and gathered this would be a great addition to our content library. It was evident that we would want to have them available. Similar to Estoril, Synot Games has been established for a long number of years in the landbase business, thus we are enraptured to have them on board. We are impressed with how far along they have come in such a short period of time. Also, we are confident that this partnership will bring great things along the way, and certainly it will be fruitful to both parties. Looking forward to the response from our players!” Rui Magalhães, CEO at Estoril Sol Digital, said.

Premium games supplier Playzido has entered into a partnership with the online gambling firm BetVictor.

Facilitated by Pariplay’s Fusion aggregation platform, this deal will see leading titles from Playzido’s games catalogue, made available to the Gibraltar-based online casino across multiple markets in which it operates. As well as Playzido’s exclusive Deal or No Deal games and its growing suite of Megaways titles, BetVictor customers will also have access to Playzido’s new and exclusive own brand games which will be launching next month.

“It’s great to be able to add BetVictor to our growing operator portfolio, an established brand with a huge history. We can’t wait to see our original and branded titles on their site, we are confident that they will prove a popular addition with their players and look forward to a long and successful partnership,” Stuart Banks, Managing Director of Playzido, said.

“We are always keen to improve our portfolio and subsequently offer an enhanced experience to our customers. Playzido has an impressive catalogue, ranging from branded titles to a large selection of Megaways. We are very excited about this collaboration and about Playzido’s ability to deliver unique content,” Sergiu Turcut, Head of Commercial at BetVictor, said.