Seems like 888 Holdings is still carrying on it’s triumphant march to the top of the gaming world tree, with the latest news suggesting that the recent takeover of Wink Bingo by 888 Holdings is the first of many steps to total domination.
We reported recently that 888 Holdings have been tied up in a new deal with free bingo (no deposit) and all round ray of bingo sunshine Costa Bingo to provide new marketing duties for some of the group, but it seems like the company is now switching it’s attention to developing it’s bingo product a little more with the help of it’s software B2B spin off Dragonfish.
Fresh from results showing Dragonfish as the star performer in a slightly better than anticipated year for 888 Holdings, the chief executive of the company, Gigi Levy, hinted at the idea of spinning off the Dragonfish arm as a means of increasing overall profitability.
Speaking to industry magazine e-Gaming Review magazine, Levy said the company is “constantly looking at” the option of spinning off Dragonfish “because it could be traded at better multiples.”
He continued “Also, one could argue that a non operator-related B2B business could be better at winning deals,” hinting at the idea that Dragonfish would therefore be removed from conflict of interest issues that are sometimes experienced when a software provider – such as Dragonfish – is signed up by a rival operator. With the online bingo world heading more towards a series of gaming networks and the lines between business to business and business to consumer becoming increasingly blurred, it seems an increasingly attractive proposition for many industry insiders.
And the head of the 888 Holdings family, which also includes the hugely popular 888 ladies bingo, also speculated on the idea of a launch into the online bingo market beyond the UK, with the acquisition of Wink Bingo in December of 2009 acting as a springboard to catapult the company (which has American roots) further into Europe. Such a move would involve a push into Nordic and Scandinavian countries, and would follow hot on the trail of Foxy Bingo (owned by 888 Holdings rival PartyGaming), who recently announced their arrival in the Swedish market with the first incarnation of Foxy Svenska.
And even though revenues were down for the group in terms of poker, it seems there was still some causes for celebration, with Dragonfish revenues increasing nearly 3 fold, and the number of real money registered customer accounts rising in the group by 22% in number to 7.1m, from 5.8m the year before.
With that many customers, we have to say – this online bingo thing is sure becoming big business!
