eGaming Review MAY | Page 3

EDITORIAL TEAM Head of Content, Pageant Gaming Media Alun Bowden T: [phone] E: [email protected] Head of Content, eGR Tom Washington T: [phone] E: [email protected] News editor Robin Harrison Millan T: [phone] E: [email protected] Reporter Tom Victor T: [phone] E: [email protected] Reporter Richard Weston T: [phone] E: [email protected] PRODUCTION Head of production Claudia Honerjager E: [email protected] Art editor, eGR Toni Giddings E: [email protected] Sub-editors Rachel Kurz?eld Eleanor Stanley Luke Tuchscherer COMMERCIAL Group commercial manager Ben Robinson T: [phone] E: [email protected] Commercial manager Sam Compagnoni T: [phone] E: [email protected] Publishing account manager Debbie Robson T: [phone] E: [email protected] Publishing account manager Jonathan Vintner T: [phone] E: [email protected] Group head of content Gwyn Roberts CEO Charlie Kerr Circulation manager Fay Muddle Content sales Emmanuel Nettey T: [phone] E: [email protected] eGaming Review is published monthly by Pageant Media, Thavies Inn House, 3-4 Holborn Circus, London, EC1N 2HA ISSN 1742-2450 Printed by The Manson Group © 2013 all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used without the prior permission from the publisher [E D I T O R ' S LETTER ] This month, bookies had the small matter of the Grand National to contend with and the event appears to be as important as ever, if not more, in the egaming calendar. One national newspaper reported that William Hill made £12m from the race alone, which would account for around 10% of its UK net online sportsbook revenue. The little-fancied 66-1 winner Auroras Encore will have put bookmakers in a ?ne mood, even if most of them once again failed to cope with increased customer demands on the day itself (see analysis on p26). April was a transformative month for the sports betting vertical on the whole. At one end of the scale William Hill and GVC ?nally completed their big money buy-out of Sportingbet, while at the other Betfair’s low-key acquisition of Blue Square’s customer database caught most of us by surprise. Investment in this vertical has simply not waned amid new product innovation – particularly on mobile – brand development and M&A activity, and a glance at the ?nancials of egaming’s biggest operators shows it’s on the up and up. The same cannot be said for poker. As this month’s cover story (see p34) describes, the vertical has fallen from grace in recent years as operators struggle to turn a pro?t in PokerStars’ shadow. It is an industry that is shrinking and consolidating, in turn sti?ing innovation in favour of economising. Yet as you will read, in every downturn there is an opportunity and perhaps a new, leaner model for the poker industry will emerge to shake up the competition. Zynga Poker on Facebook, anyone? Further a?eld I have been watching with great interest how Europe’s key players are all of a sudden pushing hard for a route into the newly-regulated New Jersey market. While most have kept their aspirations close to their chest, I’ve heard countless stories of high pro?le execs heading to the Garden State in search of a willing casino licensee to partner with. My prediction would be at least two high-pro?le deals to be sealed before summer – if it ever appears in rainy London – arrives. 03