NetPlay TV eyes new growth opportunities in bingo & sports betting

NetPlay TV said Tuesday that it will launch a new mobile sports betting product during the second quarter of this year in preparation for the football World Cup in Brazil, as the company looks to expand its products into new growth opportunities following the acquisition of Vernons.com last year.

NetPlay said that the acquisition of Vernons.com provides “significant synergy opportunities” with further product differentiation of bingo and sports betting enabling cross marketing of the operator’s existing live roulette TV product to the Vernons' customer base.

“The acquisition of the Vernons.com e-gaming business towards the end of the year presents new growth opportunities with the addition of sportsbetting and bingo to the existing core casino offering,” said NetPlay TV CEO Charles Butler following publication of the company's full year results this morning. “This acquisition highlights our strategy for growth both organically and via strategic acquisitions.”

In addition, it will allow the company to push the Vernons' sportsbook to its largely male dominated SuperCasino database and provide a source of new customers, particularly with a view to the football World Cup this year.

“As the acquisition was only at the end of the year, it will be 2014 and beyond where the positive effect of these new product verticals on the business will really be seen,” continued Butler. “Sports betting is currently only operating online, however we are aiming to launch mobile sports betting in Q2 2014, ready for the Football World Cup in Brazil.”

NetPlay said that it has substantial product enhancements in the pipeline for 2014 for both player recruitment and retention. The new version of the Playtech single wallet was launched in March for its SuperCasino brand and will be rolled out across Jackpot247 and Vernons during Q2.

This enables enhanced CRM capabilities which in turn should further improve player retention and average revenue per user, the company claimed.

Meanwhile, the operator has strengthened its senior management team for the next phase of growth with a number of new roles, including the appointments of Akshay Kumar as group finance director and Bjarke Larsen as chief operating officer.

NetPlay also created a new role in 2014 to head up digital marketing to further build upon the positive traction gained in 2013, in expanding customer recruitment opportunities.