The Swedish firm Entraction has said the sale of its consumer-facing poker sites will help it focus on the business of being a purely online poker and sports-betting software supplier.
Nordic Stock Exchange-listed Entraction announced yesterday that subsidiary Casablanca Gaming had signed a letter of intent to sell its poker operations 24hpoker and Martinspoker to iGame Ltd, operator of the Finnish-facing pokerihuone site, for a total of €4.5m. Entraction will receive €2.75m of that sum. Casablanca Gaming was 57 percent owned by Entraction, with a company called Epicure Ventures owning the remaining 43 percent.
Entraction separated from Casablanca Gaming back in December 2007 when the original 24hpoker enterprise was split into the consumer and supplier parts of the company.
According to Peter Astrom, Entraction’s chief executive, the rationale for the deal is to differentiate the company at a time where the line between consumer-facing and business-to-business (B2B) provision is becoming increasingly blurred.
Astrom explained the deal was a “milestone” for Entraction in its progress towards becoming solely a B2B supply company. “In a time when many of our competitors [are doing] the opposite and starting to mix the roles of operator and supplier, Entraction’s focus makes us both more attractive to new partners and more transparent to investors.”
A spokesperson for Entraction said the move was a “strategic decision” aimed at avoiding any element of confusion among its B2B clients. “We wanted to make sure we are only a supplier,” said the spokesperson. “We don’t want to compete with anyone and have no intention to do so. It hasn’t been a huge problem, but we were spending a lot of time answering questions. [And] if you compete against your partners, they might not be happy.”
The spokesperson added that Entraction had “got an offer that we thought was fair” for the consumer-facing sites.
Entraction will now be focusing solely on the provision of poker and sports-betting software, with the development of a live-betting offering a top priority. Entraction also provides casino and bingo products through deals with NetEnt and Wagerworks.
According to Entraction, 24hpoker and martinspoker accounted for around 10 percent of the liquidity on the Entraction poker network. The other top sites on the network include NoIQpoker, Redbet and Goldbet, as well as parts of the Victor Chandler poker offering. NoIQ joined Entraction from Playtech’s iPoker network back in January after rumoured disagreements surrounding the issue of rakeback.
In its last results for the year to December, Entraction saw net turnover rise nearly 50 percent to SK346.1m (€31.9m). However, EBITDA was down marginally at SK54.7m and operating profits were down 18.5 percent at SK40.1m. For the full year, Entraction’s share of Casablanca Gaming’ income contributed SK30.6m to group turnover and SK3.46m to operating profit. As of the end of December, Entraction had net cash of SK86.3m.
Elsewhere, mobile gaming specialists Probability and Mfuse have hooked up with a distribution agreement that will see Mfuse integrate Probability’s games into the mobile operating systems of Mfuse’s large customer base of largely sports-betting operators. Probability chief Charles Cohen said the deal would extend the distribution of its games and branded slots.
Source: http://www.gamblingcompliance.com/node/36965
Nordic Stock Exchange-listed Entraction announced yesterday that subsidiary Casablanca Gaming had signed a letter of intent to sell its poker operations 24hpoker and Martinspoker to iGame Ltd, operator of the Finnish-facing pokerihuone site, for a total of €4.5m. Entraction will receive €2.75m of that sum. Casablanca Gaming was 57 percent owned by Entraction, with a company called Epicure Ventures owning the remaining 43 percent.
Entraction separated from Casablanca Gaming back in December 2007 when the original 24hpoker enterprise was split into the consumer and supplier parts of the company.
According to Peter Astrom, Entraction’s chief executive, the rationale for the deal is to differentiate the company at a time where the line between consumer-facing and business-to-business (B2B) provision is becoming increasingly blurred.
Astrom explained the deal was a “milestone” for Entraction in its progress towards becoming solely a B2B supply company. “In a time when many of our competitors [are doing] the opposite and starting to mix the roles of operator and supplier, Entraction’s focus makes us both more attractive to new partners and more transparent to investors.”
A spokesperson for Entraction said the move was a “strategic decision” aimed at avoiding any element of confusion among its B2B clients. “We wanted to make sure we are only a supplier,” said the spokesperson. “We don’t want to compete with anyone and have no intention to do so. It hasn’t been a huge problem, but we were spending a lot of time answering questions. [And] if you compete against your partners, they might not be happy.”
The spokesperson added that Entraction had “got an offer that we thought was fair” for the consumer-facing sites.
Entraction will now be focusing solely on the provision of poker and sports-betting software, with the development of a live-betting offering a top priority. Entraction also provides casino and bingo products through deals with NetEnt and Wagerworks.
According to Entraction, 24hpoker and martinspoker accounted for around 10 percent of the liquidity on the Entraction poker network. The other top sites on the network include NoIQpoker, Redbet and Goldbet, as well as parts of the Victor Chandler poker offering. NoIQ joined Entraction from Playtech’s iPoker network back in January after rumoured disagreements surrounding the issue of rakeback.
In its last results for the year to December, Entraction saw net turnover rise nearly 50 percent to SK346.1m (€31.9m). However, EBITDA was down marginally at SK54.7m and operating profits were down 18.5 percent at SK40.1m. For the full year, Entraction’s share of Casablanca Gaming’ income contributed SK30.6m to group turnover and SK3.46m to operating profit. As of the end of December, Entraction had net cash of SK86.3m.
Elsewhere, mobile gaming specialists Probability and Mfuse have hooked up with a distribution agreement that will see Mfuse integrate Probability’s games into the mobile operating systems of Mfuse’s large customer base of largely sports-betting operators. Probability chief Charles Cohen said the deal would extend the distribution of its games and branded slots.
Source: http://www.gamblingcompliance.com/node/36965
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