Tag: Press Releases

The “Europe Online Gambling Market – Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020-2025)” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.

The European online gambling market is projected to grow, witnessing a CAGR of 9.20% during the forecast period (2020-2025).

Growing hardware and software innovations and the rising popularity of casino and sports betting gambling, along with enhanced internet penetration, are expected to drive the growth of the European online gambling market.

The dominating players have been focusing on mergers over the past few years, primarily to increase their stake in the market and to improve profit margins. For instance, Paddy Power PLC and Bet fair PLC merged to form Paddy Power Betfair PLC.

In order to gain a competitive advantage and compete with the established players, companies are developing innovative offerings in the region. For instance, in April 2019, one of the UK’s leading casino companies, 888 Holdings, had signed up a new gaming partnership with software maker, Microgaming.

Key Market Trends

Desktop Devices Holding The Major Share

Online gaming started on desktop computers, and many online casinos still focus most of their development on making sure that players get a smooth and well-presented user-interface experience. Desktops and laptops are considered to be the most convenient devices for online gambling owing to their bigger screen size. This factor provides the gamer with the ultimate online gaming experience.

One of the major benefits of using the desktop as an option to play online casino is that the number of mobile casino games on offer is significantly fewer than desktop gaming. Moreover, some of the mobile casino games only offer a few selections of the deposit options as compared to a desktop site. However, rising penetration of smartphones, owing to its convenience, is affecting the growth and demand for the gambling market operated through desktops/laptops.

United Kingdom Leading The Market

Sports betting in the United Kingdom is provided by the private sector and is conducted within a very competitive market. Online gambling is legal and regulated in the country by the Gambling Commission, which was formed by the Gambling Act of 2005. Online poker, sports betting, casino games, bingo, and lottery-style games all fall under the purview of the Gambling Commission.

As per the data published by OfCom (The Office of Communications, United Kingdom) in 2015, 6% of the users aged between 25-34 and 45-54 years engaged themselves in online gambling at least once in every three months. The second highest age group was between 16 and 24 years, which accounted for 4%. Rizk Casino, 888 Holdings, Casumo Casino, bet365, and LeoVegas are some of the prominent players operating in the UK online gambling market.

Competitive Landscape

Bet365, 888 Holdings Plc, GVC Holdings PLC, Kindred Group PLC, William Hill PLC, and Betsson AB are some of the major players having a significant presence across Europe. nMany online gambling companies rely on third-party providers, such as Playtech, for software solutions. However, some companies choose to backward integrate with technology providers.

For instance, 888 poker heavily invested in developing its own software and online gaming technology, primarily not to rely on suppliers. Similarly, William Hill, a bookmaker company located in the United Kingdom, was focused on backward integration, and thus, acquired Grand Parade, a software development company, in 2016.

Red Rake Gaming,  a leading online casino games supplier, expands its social casino vertical with the partnership with Ously Games.

Ously Games is currently operating in the social gaming space focusing on acquiring players across the German and Netherlands markets. Coming from a strong and experienced background in social gaming, Spin Arena, the companies main brand, is sure to bring the best player experience and games offering to its players.

Thanks to collaboration, Ously Games will have access to the full portfolio of top performing Red Rake Gaming games which have already demonstrated their strong performance across the region through its real money gaming partners. Popular market titles, including the Super Series of games which have non-stop action through its rich feature and bonus games, as well as the industry first, 1 million ways to win genre, which resonates well with players from all across the globe.

Social Gaming was Red Rake Gaming’s first vertical entry to the gaming industry, having been in the space for over 10 years, shown through the interaction and engagement ingrained in their portfolio of content.

Nick Barr, Managing Director for Red Rake Malta, commented on the partnership stating: “We are delighted to continue to build on our already proven social gaming vertical and excited about the partnership with Ously Games. They have been active in the vertical for numerous years driving various successful brands and we believe Spin Arena will be no exception to their success.”

Jochen Martines, CMO for Ously Games, added “Ously Games are focused on delivering the best player experience by giving our players diverse, engaging and feature rich casino content which this partnership delivers. Both companies have successfully operated in the social gaming space for many years which will ensure a long, thriving collaboration.”

The latest link-up sees the supplier deliver its content to Max Entertainment’s two brands – its flagship Slotty Vegas and Pay N Play casino GoSlotty, while their sister brand VulkanBet is set to follow suit shortly. The partnership with MaxEnt will further Tom Horn Gaming’s presence in many regulated markets in Europe where the provider lauds momentum with its games proving to be an instant hit with players.

“We continue to focus on growing our existing business relationships and delivering unique content to operators in regulated markets. I am confident that this partnership with Max Entertainment will be a great success for both companies and together we will see continued and robust growth going forward,” noted Ondrej Lapides, CEO at Tom Horn Gaming. 

Karl von Brockdorff, Head of Brand at Max Entertainment added: “Tom Horn Gaming’s portfolio is packed with titles that are known worldwide for their high quality and thrilling mechanics. Adding their fresh and entertaining slots to our casino suite was therefore an obvious decision. With Tom Horn on board we continue to further our portfolio with exceptional gaming content, while expanding our offering effectively in our target markets.”

With robust performance in 2020, Tom Horn Gaming continues its global expansion efforts, asserting confidence that a number of partnerships and integrations secured with top tier operators and aggregators in the past months will positively impact their results going forward.

Rising Lords by Argonwood, a game studio based in Cologne, Germany has won the weekly voting on Game Development World Championship Fan Favourite category for the Strategy Games Week. Rising Lords is now available on Steam.

“Rising Lords is a medieval turn-based strategy game with card and board game elements. Send your serfs to fight and die in your name… or let them prosper, and use them to your advantage! ” Argonwood describes Rising Lords.

Argonwood Studio moves on to the next round of voting in the Fan Favourite category of the GDWC – Game Development World Championship and will meet other Weekly Vote winners in a battle for the crown at the end of the GDWC 2020 season.

2nd place was taken by Hundred Days – Winemaking Simulator by Broken Arms Games from Italy: “Hundred Days – Winemaking Simulator will put you in charge of managing a small and abandoned winery: from selecting the types of vine you want to grow, to naming your final product, every decision of the challenging business of winemaking will be in your hands. ”

3rd place went to The Unexpected Quest by rionix from Russia: “Adventure game with strategy and management elements in a medieval fantasy setting – drawing inspiration from classics such as Warcraft 3 and The Settlers. Embark on quests, hunt down treasures and manage your resources as you build, battle, cast magic and brew potions to bring order to the world.”

The GDWC team sends congratulations to the winning team and big thanks to all Nominees and voters. The weekly votes take place each week, from Monday to Saturday and there are always six new exciting games to check out and vote for. This week’s vote is already live on the event website at thegdwc.com.

This week’s voting theme is Couch Gaming and the nominees are:
– From the Shadows by Team Spooky, France
– Grid Fight – Mask of the Goddess by Playtra Games, United Kingdom
– JUMPALA by Yokereba, USA
– Perfectly Perilous Provisions by Cat&Tonic Studios, Japan
– Toasterball by Les Crafteurs, France
– Wreckout by Huey Games, United Kingdom

Online Casino and Bookmaker Betzest expand their offering in a new partnership with leading casino provider Iron Dog Studio.

The agreement will give Betzest players opportunity to access to Iron Dog Studio full range games portfolio most popular branded slots, including The Curious Cabinet, Pirate Kingdom MegaWays, Neon Jungle, Si Xiang, Rainbow Wilds, Viking Wilds, Blood Queen, Wai Kiki, Cherry Blast, Cosmic Crystals, Gifts Ostara, Moirai Blaze, Paint, Treasure of Horus and many more.

After adding to its portfolio MGA license, many key payment methods and Top online casino providers Betzest now offers a great selection of casino games to ensure amazing entertainment, user experience and adrenaline to their players. This is another significant step in Betzest rapid expansion. The company is looking forward to announcing more partnerships with other leading providers lined up for the end of Q4, 2020.

Marius Filip, Founder/CMO at Betzest, said: “We are excited to conclude another partnership with the leading casino provider Iron Dog Studio. We are pleased to welcome them to the Betzest family and look forward to working with them closely for many years. We trust that their high quality, innovative and entertaining games will play an important part in making Betzest this year’s leading casino operator. The online casino industry in Latam and International markets continues to grow quickly. Therefore, our goal is to straighten our Casino vertical and modernize the player experience in these regions, through innovative gameplay.
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The move makes GameByte the only social publisher in the world to own every step of the consumer journey.

The GameByte shop will stock over 1000 products including video games, next-gen consoles and gaming accessories

A proprietary e-commerce platform will provide media buyers with total transparency and insight

84% of GameByte’s surveyed followers* said they want to buy with GameByte

Manchester-based GameByte, the gaming brand owned by global social agency and publishing house, Social Chain, is venturing into e-commerce with the launch of The GameByte shop.

On November 9, GameByte’s audience of more than 6 million gamers will be introduced to over 1000 products including merchandise, gaming accessories, hardware, next-gen consoles and games. The shop will act as an extension of the GameByte website GameByte.com, which hosts its gaming news coverage and features.

Gaming enthusiasts will be able to buy directly from the store or purchase through social by simply clicking on one of GameByte’s Facebook videos, which average more than 25 million views every month.

GameByte’s mantra, ‘by gamers for gamers’, takes centre stage in the creation and launch of the shop, which was ideated based on a survey put to its audience that saw 84% of GameByte’s audience express a desire to buy with GameByte.

GameByte’s head, Rich White, said: “This isn’t just the next generation of GameByte, it’s the next gen of games media. Though it’s never been done before, we’re in the perfect position to launch a gaming e-commerce platform. We know our audience inside-out.”

The same survey found that one-third of gamers discover new brands on social media, emphasising the role that GameByte’s social following will play in the success of the shop.

Four-year-old GameByte has grown until this point by creating fan-centric original content and coverage for household gaming brands like Frontier and Logitech. In a first for games media, the GameByte brand will now become the client, using its tried-and-tested content strategy to market its own products as well as that of its clients.

The GameByte Shop will also act as ad inventory for clients, media buyers and affiliates, who will have the chance to tap into a market of an estimated 2.6 billion active gamers worldwide, a figure that is set to increase by 5% in 2021 to 2.725 billion.

While this is unprecedented in gaming, the move is reminiscent of the beauty brand Glossier’s strategy. Glossier first began as a publisher, Into The Gloss, and soon turned its editorial audience into paying customers, relying on their insight to create smash-hit products.

GameByte, of course, will benefit from the resources of parent company Social Chain, which will assist in content creation across editorial, social-first video and display ads, to promotional posts, performance marketing, driving traffic and customer acquisition.

Social Chain’s business development director, Sam Barrett, added: “We’re already a trusted source of gaming news and entertainment. Now with our proprietary e-commerce platform, we can provide a seamless purchase journey for both our community and for the world’s leading gaming companies, by owning every step involved to help them reach their customers.”

The shop is a natural next step for GameByte, but also hints at the upward trajectory that social commerce is on, with companies like Social Chain at the forefront. What’s more, it promises to demonstrate the power of community and social-first savvy in generating revenue for both the brand and its partners.

*These figures are based on a survey of 1,569 gamers from the GameByte community.