“We are innovating across all of our gaming verticals and that’s why we’ve partnered with Net Entertainment; a company who have been producing some top quality content in this space,” said the Chief Executive Officer of Boylesports Keith O’Loughlin.

The Head of Gaming at Boylesports, Ruairi Boyle added that it was a top priority of the group to focus on delivering online, and as such, the group identified Net Entertainment as an ideal partner to deliver the gaming experience that its customers demand.

“We see this as the start of a long and fruitful partnership which should deliver real growth online and across all platforms,” he said.

Net Entertainment, the Swedish group which supplies some of the most popular casino games to sites which are much sought after by UK gamblers, also commented on the deal signed with Boyleports. “We are very excited to become Boylesports’ gaming and casino content partner and this agreement further solidifies our position in the UK gaming market,” noted the Chief Executive Officer of Net Entertainment, Per Eriksson. “Our continued focus on portfolio excellence and technology leadership has strengthened our position as the gaming industry’s market-leading casino provider, and I am confident that our games will be well received by Boylesports.com players.”

Net Entertainment regularly rolls out new and exciting games which are incorporated onto its partner sites.  Recently, the software group introduced Scarface slot to its repetoire of games, thanks to a partnership signed with Universal Studios.  The group also showed its talent for innovation after taking home two prestigious awards at the recent eGR B2B Awards – namely  Innovation in RNG Casino Software and Innovation in Slots Provision.

The promotion is divided into two – one for high rollers and one for regular players.  Each category has its requirements to qualify for the big race and total prize pools could see thousands in pounds being given away to lucky players.

Regular players can put themselves in line to enter the Challenge Race simply by opting in at Virgin Casino. There is £5,000 in the Challenge Race prize pool, which will be divided among 200 players and the top player wins £350.

Players can opt in anytime between now and May 20th, and the big race will run from Monday, May 21st to Sunday, May 27st.

For those who feel a little bit more adventurous, the High Rollers Race will run along the same dates as the Challenge Race, the only difference being that players need to wager at least £5,000 in order to qualify for the race period.  The prize pool in the High Rollers race is much larger, and 50 players will share a whopping £10,000.  The top player wins £1,500.

As a recap, the Alderney licensed Virgin Casino is the online gambling arm Virgin Games, bringing its players a wide range of fantastic games. The difference between Virgin Casino and other casinos is that while most stick to the games supplied from one single casino software provider, Virgin has opted to take the best games from number of providers, so that there is a fantastic range available.  Virgin Casino regularly updates its games portfolio so that there are always new titles to try out and discover.

Virgin Casino offers all new players a generous £100 welcome bonus as a 100% match bonus.  The site also offers a loyalty program where players can collect V*Points every time they play, which can go towards free cash or other prizes.

In January this year, it became public knowledge that Rank and Gala Coral were involved in negotiations. However, in March, Rank walked away from the talks, saying that they were not in the best interest of its shareholders.  Less than six weeks later, it was confirmed that the deal was going through after all and that Rank would pay Gala Coral over GBP 200 million for an additional 23 gaming venues across the United Kingdom.

The Chief Executive Officer of Rank, Ian Burke said about the acquisition: “This acquisition will deliver a steep change in Rank’s earnings by capitalising on our proven record of operational excellence in the British casino sector and will be earnings enhanced in the first full year of ownership.”

Adding his opinion on the sale was the Chief Executive Officer of Gala, Carl Leaver who said: “This transaction will crystallise significant value for our shareholders and debt investors.”  Two years ago, Gala Coral’s creditors took over the group in an effort to restructure debt.  At the time, Gala Coral was not looking to sell its assets and said that it had received an unsolicited proposal from Rank.

Rank’s shareholders now have to give their approval on the purchase, and the sale also needs to receive permission from UK gambling authorities.  If and when these happen, the deal should be signed and sealed by September this year.  Gala Coral will recieve GBP 182.5 million on the completion of the deal, and the rest in installments over the next three years.

Some of the top online casinos in the industry, including three of the best sites in the Fortune Lounge Group – Royal Vegas Casino, 7 Sultans Casino and Platinum Play Casino – have rolled out some great Mothers Day specials, and the moms among us stand to win prizes worth over  £15 000 this month.

Slots tournaments will be run throughout May in celebration and and members of these sites need to enter these events each week in order to start winning.  Tourneys such as Moolah Monday and Fortune Friday will reward top players well and put some cash in the back pockets of mums (and non-mums!).

To keep Mothers Day celebrations spread out long after Sunday the 13th, the Fortune Lounge Group online casinos will hold a super progressive slot tournament at the end of the month with a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000.

Entering these tournaments is as easy as pie, and players only to sign up to these sites and enter the tournaments they wish to play in.  The idea is then to try and make one’s way up the leader board and be among the top players in event. The prize pool is then shared among the best players.

It should also be remembered that signing up with these online casinos for the first time qualifies players to enjoy a great sign up bonus, considered among the most generous around.  The welcome bonus at Royal Vegas online casino, for example, sees players enjoy a whopping  £1,200 in perks and prizes.  Their first deposit is met by a 100% bonus up to  £150, followed by another five bonuses on the five subsequent deposits, ranging from 25% to 50% offers.

The Microgaming powered Royal Vegas Casino is accredited by eCOGRA with its Safe and Fair seal and offers multiple ways for players to fund their accounts and withdraw their winnings.  Royal Vegas Casino is lcicensed by the Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta.

Recently, the Microgaming powered Mummy’s Gold Casino released details of some its big wins in April, with one winner taking home a total of $150,000 on three slot games. The anonymous player hit it big on the three games Supe it Down, Celtic Crown and Path of the Penguin.  While the first two games are reasonably popular titles at Microgaming online casinos, the last game, Path of the Penguin is one which attracts a select group of players only, leading to fewer hits.  The fact that the ninja themed Path of the Penguin realized a big hit in April means that more people will undoubtedly try it out next time they visit Mummy’s Gold Casino.

So what does Path of the Penguin slot game have to offer online gamblers? For one, the slot machine has a huge 6,000 coin jackpot on the base game which is already an attraction in itself.  Path of the Penguin starts off with an introductory clip so that players can familiarize themselves with the various characters, including the Ninja master, the Ninjas themselves and the evil personalities who make this game even more interesting and exciting.

Some of the bonus features in Path of the Penguin slot include five free spins which provide great winning potential. Players then need to make a choice of three ice cubes out of five possibilities in a bid to win even bigger prizes or more free spins. The animations in this bonus feature, as well as throughout the entire game, are excellent and what one would expect from the online casino software master, Microgaming.

The Malta licensed Mummy’s Gold online casino offers all new members $500 free to play for one hour before they even need to make a deposit into their accounts. The casino is eCOGRA safe and provides players with multiple methods of deposit with which to transfer funds into their accounts.

Founder and co-Chief Executive Officer of Bet365, Denise Coates (recently named one of the richest people in Britain) said about the sponsorship deal: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement to become Stoke City’s shirt sponsor. It is a perfect fit for us as a Stoke-on-Trent-based company with a global reach and international markets to become shirt sponsor of our local English Premier League club.”

Coates added that the Stoke City deal further built upon the extensive sponsorship, LED and advertising the group is already committed to at many English Premier League clubs and within the sports industry in general.

“It also further demonstrates our long-term commitment to the club,” she added.

For fifteen years, Britannia has been the shirt sponsor for Stoke City FC and in 2009, the two sides signed another deal which would have seen an extension of their long-running sponsorship.  Unfortunately, Britannia’s new parent company, Co-operative Financial Services cancelled the deal a year earlier than it was meant to expire and the financial company will now serve out the remaining sponsorship contract as Stoke City’s banking and community partner instead.  This left a vacuum for a top sponsor to step in and led to the new partnership between Stoke City and Bet365.

The Chief Executive Officer of Stoke City FC, Tony Scholes was obviously pleased about clinching the deal with Bet365. “The club is already hugely indebted to the support from bet365 and its owners, the Coates family,” he said. “While Britannia and the Co-Operative Group focus more on local and national markets, bet365, who is the largest private sector employers in the area, operates on a global basis.”

Stan James joined forces with the innovative casino software provider, Realistic Games to launch the suite for iPad and smart phone users.  The collection consists of ten superb games – eight slot games, a multihand blackjack variant and a first-of-its-kind iPad roulette game.

“We have a long-standing relationship with StanJames.com, and are very happy to supply our games onto StanJames.com’s mobile platform,” noted the Director of Realistic Games, Andy Cattrell. “We hope that the strong performance of the games will continue to support the growth of StanJames.com’s mobile business.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Stan James, Dennis Kelly added that mobile gaming is a key strategic channel for his company and adding a high quality mobile game offering to its rapidly expanding sports betting product is a key development for the group.

“The initial performance of Realistic’s games has been extremely encouraging and suggests that these games will be an important driver of future mobile revenues,” said Kelly.

Realistic Games, which has been of the industry since 2002, provides its 20 game suite  to leading mobile and gambling companies in the business. Distributed through its ReGal gaming platform, the games are designed to suit the operators’ own requirements and suit single and multiplayer needs.

The full list of new games is as follows: Blackjack, Roulette, Bullseye mobile slot, Sunset Reels mobile slot, Sunrise Reels mobile slot, Over The Rainbow mobile slot, Pentagram mobile slot, Super Graphics Upside Down mobile slot, Double Bubble mobile slot and Snakes and Ladders mobile slot.

Stan James has been part of the UK gambling scene for decades and is licensed and regulated by the Gibraltar Licensing Authority. The group’s sports betting platform deals with over 10,000 calls from all around the world each day, and allows punters to place their bets online or through its sportsbook mobile product.  The new mobile casino games will be a welcome addition to the group’s portfolio of services and products.

The games were launched during the recent mGaming Awards (sponsored, incidentally, by Microgaming) and showcase once more why the software group is considered a pioneer in mobile gaming as well as online gambling.

According to a press release put out by Microgaming, “the launch of the new HTML5 games sets the gold standard for mobile gaming in the market. Its unique ‘swipe and tap’ interface, rich and carefully detailed graphics, and smooth gaming experience are unbeatable.”

So what can Microgaming mobile users expect in the new games launch?

There are 11 new HTML5 games in total, featuring some of Microgaming’s most popular titles which are so sought after at its partner sites.  These include slot games such as Tomb Raider, Thunderstruck and Mermaids Millions.  In addition, fans of card and table games will be able to enjoy blackjack and roulette, as well as several variants of video poker.

Microgaming also promised “an aggressive games rollout scheduled for the coming months,” meaning that players will have even more Microgaming action to look forward to.

“HTML5 allows players to access the best games in the industry, on any of their devices, when and wherever they want,” read the group’s press release.

Commenting on the new release of HTML5 games was the Head of Product Channels at Microgaming, Neill Whyte, who said: “Microgaming launched its first mobile casino software in 2004 and ever since then, has been leading innovation in mobile gaming. It offers industry firsts in mobile gaming solutions, custom-made to enable any enterprise from the online industry, mobile space or land-based arena, to enter the world of mobile casinos with ease.”

The full list of HTML5 games release by Microgaming is as follows: Mermaid Millions slot, Thunderstruck I slot , Tomb Raider slot, Aces and Faces video poker, Aces and Eights video poker, Bonus Deuces Wild video poker, Deuces Wild video poker , Double Double Bonus video poker, Jacks or Better video poker, European Gold Roulette and European Gold Blackjack.

The survey covered the time period of the twelve months leading up to March 2012 and showed that there has been a slight increase in the number of British people who gamble.  Out of the 4,000 adults surveyed, it was shown that 58.1% had enjoyed some form of gambling in the past month, with the most popular form being the National Lottery.  The numbers in last year’s survey indicated that 57.3% gambled regularly.

Among the statistics released by the Gambling Prevalence Survey were as follows:

• The number of gamblers rose from 2010 (55.5%) and 2009 (55.2%), showing that the popularity of gambling in the UK continues to rise at a steady pace over the years.
• The National Lottery’s position as the most popular form of gambling in the United Kingdom is undebateable, and is miles ahead of other forms of gambling such as the next on the list – scratch cards – at 13% and the third most popular type of gambling, society lotteries at 10.6%.
• Places fourth, fifth, and sixth on the list of most favored gambling variants for UK gamblers are betting on horse racing (4.3%), slots betting/fruit machine betting (3.4%) and private bets with friends, colleagues or family members (3.3%).
• Of the 4,000 adults surveyed by the UK Gambling Commission, 12.2% participated in at least one form of remote gambling (online gambling, mobile gambling or gambling via interactive/digital TV).  Around half of those who fell into this category purchased National Lottery products online.
• This number was slightly lower than what was reflected in last year’s survey (12.4%) in relation to online and remote gamblers.
• 10% of respondents said that they had bought tickets for the UK National Lottery in the past year.
• The average remote gambler differs from the average overall gambler in terms of age.  In this case, more 18-44 year olds gamble remotely compared to the age of the overall UK gambler.  However, in both cases, more men than women continue to gamble.

This week, it was reported that the Malta Lotteries and Gambling Authority has signed a very important agreement with the International Olympic Committee’s International Sports Monitoring group in an effort to protect the integrity of the games.

The Lotteries and Gambling Authority is one of the toughest gambling jurisdictions in Europe and appears on the UK’s ‘white list’, which means that any sports betting group or online casino regulated by Malta, can market its products and services to UK gamblers.  According to a statement issued by the LGA regarding its deal with the Olympic body: “Such collaboration shall augment even further the existing deterrents and shall ensure that the possibility of achieving unfair winnings, a phenomenon which is particularly present with respect to unregulated betting activities, remains shut out of the regulated markets such as that regulated by the LGA.”

The LGA went on to state that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the parties would bring together the International Sports Monitoring group’s early warning system and would encourage the Lotteries and Gambling Authority and its many licensees to report any suspicious betting patterns and help with the exchange of important information which could would help nab criminals in the sports.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Lotteries and Gambling Authority, Reuben Portanier, and Detlev Zenglein on behalf of the International Olympic Committee. 

Incidentally, this is the third sort of memorandum of understanding signed between Malta and other bodies in a bid to retain integrity in sports.  It indicates the jurisdication and its licensees’ willingness to reach and maintain high standards of fairness, transparency and integrity in the world of online sports betting and casino gambling.