GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 24 - April 2013

CAN MOBILE AND SOCIAL SAVE ONLINE POKER? Two Amaya executives sit down with the GPWA to share their vision of online poker’s future and discuss how the entire online gaming industry is being changed by regulations. I t’s been a very busy 16 months for Amaya Gaming. The B2B soft- ware provider bought online game developer Cryptologic for $35.8 million. Then Amaya bought land-based slot manufacturer Cadillac Jack for $167 million and the online poker software supplier and network Ongame for €25 million, with up to another €10 million possible depend- ing on how widely online poker becomes regulated in the U.S. For operators looking for casino game content, Amaya now has more than 300 premium titles to offer. For operators in need of an online poker so- lution, Amaya now has a viable software option on a top-15 network. And for operators needing an open gaming platform and back office, Amaya has that too. Bally Technologies has agreed to integrate Ongame and Amaya’s casino suite into its iGaming platform. SHFL Entertainment has signed a 10- year deal to be the exclusive U.S. distributor for Ongame Poker, and Mohegan Sun debuted play-money operations in the U.S. using Ongame. Amaya debuted its mobile gaming platform, launched Strobe (its ver- sion of fast-fold poker), extended its agreement with Warner Bros. for DC Comics content, agreed to provide Redbet its online poker platform, and agreed to provide Betfair and Belgium’s Circus Group with online casino games. It also inked a deal with Playboy to develop online gaming initiatives in poker and lottery (and threw a heck of a party at the Playboy Club in London; see page 40). GPWA Editor-in-Chief Vin Narayanan caught up with Ongame’s Director of Business Development Don Jaques and Amaya Online’s Director of Product Fredrik Kjell in London for a wide-ranging discussion about bo- nuses, Ongame’s mobile platform, the move from closed software sys- tems to open systems, implementing online poker in the U.S. and a vari- ety of other hot topics in the online gaming industry. COVER STORY