Inside Asian Gaming

April 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 In Focus with a free play Web site due to launch this spring. Golden Nugget has selected Chiligaming as its exclusive online gaming partner in anticipation of the legalisation of online gaming in the United States. Chiligaming’s proprietary iGaming platform, which enables it to connect to any poker platform or gaming content provider, is a central feature of its US proposition and is designed to both facilitate swift entry into the market and maximise options for the Golden Nugget as the US regulatory and vendor landscape takes shape. Many other companies are emulating the free play/social gaming strategy with poker and other popular casino games, with the thought that once real-money online wagering sites are allowed to go live in Nevada and elsewhere, they will already have built-in and loyal audiences. Other operators have opted to go the acquisition/merger route to improve online offerings. Last year, bwin.Party, the parent company of the Party Poker online franchise, formed a joint company with MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming to launch an online poker offering. Caesars International and 888 Holdings formed a similar alliance last year as well. Caesars Entertainment plans for the online medium are quite ambitious, with its 888 Holdings arrangement, the ongoing online marketing and expansion of its WSOP franchise and its recent purchase of Playtika, a well-known company in the social games space. “We are firmly convinced that the expansion of online gaming offerings for real money, for fun, and for social andmobile mediums will benefit our land based casino portfolio due to further brand enhancement, customer acquisition in these new channels and marketing arrangements including incorporating our Total Rewards cash back points program into our online gaming offerings,”Mr Halkyard said. Vendors are also pursuing acquisitions and partnerships to make sure they are relevant in the Internet poker and online arenas. The list of companies active in this space includes: • Bally Technologies has launched an Interactive Gaming division composed of mobile, Internet and social media applications. It has been bulked up by two key acquisitions; MacroView on the mobile side and Chiligaming on the Internet gaming end. “MacroView provides you with a platform; when you design content, that platform can take care of it on all sorts of mobile devices, not just the iPhone,” said Ramesh Srinivasan, president and chief operating officer, Bally Technologies, at the company’s recent user conference in California. “This is cutting-edge technology. It is not just a matter of putting games for free play on mobile devices. This is about providing marketing solutions for you and your patrons and to build relationships with them.” Srinivasan called Chiligaming “the most open platform available in the Internet space today,” making it is easy to create interfaces from any front-end solution that you choose; bingo, poker, slots, live tables, etc. • Aristocrat Technologies has actually teamed up with Bally to offer the same third-party poker networks as part of their business-to-business (B2B) Internet-gaming solutions for US operators. Working together, the companies will be better able to more quickly and effectively offer attractive and credible online poker games that will provide stronger player experiences and functionality and greater poker liquidity for both Bally and Aristocrat’s casino-operator customers. Both companies are offering iGaming platforms with an integration to their back–end core system solutions, while providing operators with the flexibility to choose best–in–class applications from multiple suppliers around the world; Bally through its recently announced acquisition of Chiligaming’s iGaming platform, and Aristocrat through its exclusive collaboration with GameAccount Network. Under the strategic alliance, Bally and Aristocrat will secure arrangements with leading poker providers, who will then be integrated into Bally’s and Aristocrat’s iGamingplatforms.Advanceddiscussions with several poker providers are currently underway. • International Game Technology (IGT) recently purchased Double Down Interactive LLC—a leading online social gaming company and developer of the popular DoubleDown Casino found on Facebook. Launched in April 2010, the DoubleDown Casino is the world’s largest virtual casino and one of the top four social media games in 2011 as rated by Facebook. According to AppData.com, DoubleDown Casino currently has 4.7 million monthly active users, up from 3.3 million inOctober 2011.With a broad and expanding portfolio, Double Down offers blackjack, slots, slot tournaments, video poker, and roulette to social gamers all around the world. The addition of Double Down provides IGT instant size and scale in the fast growing world of casino-style social gaming and is expected to broaden IGT’s popular gaming titles beyond the physical casino to Facebook, the world’s largest social network with over 800 million global users. This distribution model is anticipated to provide IGT an opportunity to entertain players with consistent, ubiquitous, thrilling gaming experiences across multiple platforms. • Shuffle Master acquired Ongame Network from bwin.party Services (Austria) GmbH. Ongame is one of the world’s largest poker providers to online gaming operators, with a global network that includes more than 25 of the iGaming industry’s strongest brands and operators, as well as regional networks in France and Italy. The acquisition aligns with Shuffle Master’s strategy of expanding its online product offerings to capitalize on regulated online gaming, while operating purely as a B2B provider and not providing gaming content directly to players. “I am confident that Ongame will fit seamlessly into our ongoing interactive initiatives of delivering our renowned brands to online gaming operators, partner Web sites, social networks and mobile platforms,” said Gavin Isaacs, CEO of Shuffle Master. “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.” If online poker earns anywhere near the amount of money industry observers predict it will, chances are more vendors will find a way to fit the game into their line of products, natural fit or not. Reprinted with permission from Casino Journal