As reported by Sky News, the board of Entain targets a £150m sale of PartyPoker, needed to raise funds to support the firm’s strategic reorganisation overseen by the firm’s newly appointed Capital Allocation Committee. 

2024 sees Entain place all existing units apart from US joint-venture BetMGM, under strategic review, The challenges for Entain were highlighted in greater depth last week as the firm revealed its full year accounts, citing legacy declines for corporate losses of £900m.

The company has also emphasised a key focus on ensuring growth within key markets, specifically, Brazil, the UK and the US, but underlined  that short-term H1 trading would be impacted by £40m costs reserved for regulatory adjustments in the UK and Netherlands.   

The  review of the company’s brand portfolio has led to intensified interest from M&A vultures looking to take advantage of the opportunity of Entain shrinking its bloated stable of 35 global brands.  

A transaction involving the PartyPoker brand would ease struggles for the embattled operator that has endured regulatory headwinds in recent years. Nonetheless, the PartyPoker brand has declined in value in modern times, as the game’s engagement has fallen amongst online audiences. . 

Upon announcing its recent results, CEO Stella David underlined that there have been significant challenges this year for the firm. 

She went on to provide an optimistic outlook that the firm is on course to reach targets and return to profitability, adding: “2023 presented a number of challenges for the group, both industry-wide and Entain-specific. 

“I am extremely proud of how our people around the world came together to navigate the business through an eventful and at times difficult year.

“Against that backdrop, Entain was still able to deliver overall revenue growth of 14 per cent including our US joint venture achieving revenue at the top end of expectations.”

Looking ahead, she stated: “We have started the new financial year with a clear plan to accelerate our operational strategy, and are making pleasing progress across a range of initiatives to re-focus our market portfolio, prioritise organic growth, drive our share in the US, and expand our margins.

“We are entirely focused on operational excellence and outstanding execution and, as a result, are confident that we are on a pathway to delivering future growth. We remain confident that our continued focused execution will drive organic growth into 2025 and beyond.”

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This will see the igaming aggregator and supplier provide the bwin, partypoker and PartyCasino operator entities with 30 games, including Temple Tumble  Beast Mode and Money Train 2.

Additional proprietary Relax games will follow, with regulatory approval expected shortly from the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego, Spain’s regulatory authority.

“Relax Gaming continues to realise its trajectory in regulated markets by adding the Spanish jurisdiction to its list of supported European jurisdictions,” stated Alexia Smilovic Rønde, Chief Regulatory Officer at Relax Gaming.

“Spain is known for its heightened regulatory conditions, which differ from other similar markets, and with Relax Gaming’s expertise, technology and content we were up to that challenge – with the goal of delivering the market’s most seamless experience available to licensed operators and their players.

“We don’t doubt this will result in an excellent start for operations and a steady growth in the Spanish landscape overtime.” 

In total, Relax provides more than 3,000 online casino games, which originate from its proprietary slots suite to a library of content from third-party studios.

Obdulio Bacarese, Gaming Commercial Director at Entain, said: “We’re confident that Relax Gaming’s titles will be a huge splash in the Spanish market, and we’re excited to have these hits in our armoury to entertain our legions of players.

“Given the massive impact these games have had in similar markets throughout Europe, we couldn’t think of a better partner than Relax as we both continue to expand and grow in Spain.”

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The extension of the partnership is said to bring more games, promotions, and bonus content, with a new McLaren Racing arcade game set to give players the chance to win prizes, including exclusive McLaren Racing rewards and merchandise, throughout the 2022 Formula 1 season. 

Vic Walia, Managing Director of Party Brands, said: “We are very proud and excited ahead of another season of our partnership with McLaren Racing. Once again, we will be able to offer new content to partypoker players and bring the brands to new audiences.

“This should be another thrilling year for Formula 1 and we cannot wait to be a part of it.”

Furthermore, as part of the agreement, with the start of the season just a few weeks away, partypoker’s logo will take its place on McLaren Racing’s Formula 1 car at several races throughout the race calendar. 

Meanwhile, fans can view the final See the Unseen episodes, placed on partypoker’s website, with members of the McLaren Racing team, giving fans the inside track and allowing them to discover the hidden world of Formula 1 and McLaren Racing. 

McLaren Racing pit crew gave an insight into how much work goes into preparing cars for a race weekend and how it feels when the team succeeds. 

Andrew Salt, No.1 Race Mechanic at McLaren Racing, explained: “My favourite part of the race weekend is easily qualifying. The car has to be turned around very quickly. That includes changing the front wing settings, changing the tyres and putting fuel in the car. Sometimes we have to complete all of that within a minute. It’s an adrenaline rush from start to finish.”

McLaren Racing’s Build Test Technician, James Herbert, added: “Seeing our cars on the podium is a massive thing. It’s so rewarding when you see the reaction on the drivers’ faces and everyone at the track. 

“We talk about it on the Monday after a race, even if it’s not such a good race, but everyone is more hyped up if you’ve had a good one.”

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The event, which will maintain flexibility for players who wish to qualify online, will feature a total of 42 tournaments, including a €5,000 and €2,000 high roller.

The main event will get underway on Wednesday, April 13, with a buy-in of €1,150. Starting flights will be held on three consecutive days before day two on Saturday, April 16 and day three on Sunday, April 17. The final table will play out on the final day of the festival.

Buying in at the venue is not the only way players can reach the main event though, as they can also win their seat by taking part in online satellites, for a single cent, on partypoker, with 10 guaranteed seats available through weekly Sunday finals. 

Centrolls, which are running daily on partypoker, lead to the €4.40 phase one, followed by the €22 phase two, before the weekly Sunday final, which can also be bought into directly. Satellites will also be held at the venue during the festival.

Dan Rose, partypoker’s head of live events, said: “We are so thrilled to partner with the Irish Poker Open again after a long time away from the felt in Dublin. It’s great to be qualifying players for such an entertaining and well-managed festival. See you at the tables.”

Last year’s Irish Poker Open main event title was claimed by Pavel Veksler, who took the top prize of €266,000. Weijie Zheng was the last live main event winner in 2019, banking €300,000.

There will also be a Mini Irish Open this year, which will run across the final two days of the festival and can be bought into for €250.

Paul O’Reilly and JP McCann, organisers of the Irish Poker Open, added: “We have always said how exciting it is to launch the Irish Poker Open each year. However, the launch of Irish Poker Open 2022 feels extra special, given the particularly difficult times people have gone through over the last two years.  

“We are really looking forward to welcoming all our Irish and international players back to the Irish felt and, of course, we will enjoy the famous Irish Open ‘craic’ away from the tables.”

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The company’s NFTs will showcase some of the “most iconic moments and tournament hands” in the history of partypoker and partypoker Live and some will feature PokerApes, a series of images with a partypoker twist, featuring 3D artwork and traits. 

Vadim Soloveychik, partypoker director, explained: “partypoker has established a history across 20 years full of great hands and epic poker moments that have happened during our live and online events. 

“We are happy to give players the opportunity to own their very own piece of poker history in partnership with Theta. I am truly excited for partypoker to join the NFT space.”

The NFTs have been developed in association with Theta Labs, the distributed video delivery firm, powered by blockchain technology. Theta provides end-to-end infrastructure for decentralised video and powers NFT and Metaverse platforms.

Through the collaboration with Theta Labs, for the first time, players will be able to view NFTs on offer from an online poker platform. The partypoker marketplace will feature both primary sales of new NFTs and a secondary marketplace for users to trade NFTs.

NFTs will be developed for brands across the group, starting with partypoker, and Entain technologists will work with Theta to further use its technology across video streaming, metaverse, games and more.

Theta is among one of the first partners working with Ennovate; an innovation hub in London established by Entain. Ennovate will invest up to £100m in technology projects, including many with UK and global partners, with around £40m earmarked specifically for the UK.

Mitch Liu, Theta Labs CEO, added: “This is an exciting, new, global collaboration. For the first time, we are licensing our integrated white-label NFT platform to one of the world’s largest sports betting, gaming and interactive entertainment groups, and we couldn’t ask for better partners in partypoker and Entain Group. 

“Being integrated into the partypoker application enables an NFT user experience as exciting and seamless as possible to customers, powered by Theta Network, Theta edge nodes to support video NFTs and TFUEL for transactions.”

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Markets targeted include the UK, US and the Baltics, with a strong focus on the latter a result of Entain’s acquisition of Enlabs earlier this year. 

In order to push content in the Baltic region, the firm’s Oldham, UK-based CR Games studio is developing the latest release of the ‘Big Banker’ title for Latvian Optibet customers, as well as bwin players in other parts of Europe.

Additionally, the studio is working on a range of new recreational games such as ‘Firey Wilds’, which are being developed for the mass market in the UK and elsewhere.

Further content will include ‘first of their kind’ free-to-play slot tournaments, which so far have seen over 30,000 UK-based Entain customers take part in June following the launch, whilst international customers of the Gala, Party and bwin brands are expected to join throughout the summer.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 operator’s stateside partnership with BetMGM has seen 70% of the American entertainment conglomerate’s customers play Entain content, with the Win Studios centre in Hyderabad, India, developing 30 new products specifically for the US market.

Colin Cole-Johnson, Entain Gaming Director, commented: “Our priority is always to create exciting, engaging products that give our customers choice.  Not only does this enhance the experience for the millions of people who enjoy our products, but is an important driver of Entain’s growth. 

“These exclusive, innovative, and tailored games are really valued by our customers.  Developing more of our own games means we have complete control over what goes into them, not just in giving our customers a great experience, but also keeping them safe.”

Lastly, Entain also plans to launch exclusive Formula One-themed casino content and games later in the year, a direct result of the sponsorship agreement between the McLaren racing team and the PartyCasino and PartyPoker brands.

In order to deliver its range of ‘exciting, exclusive new products and experiences’ across the targeted jurisdictions Entain plans to double its headcount at its UK, Italy and India in-house studios to around 300 people. In the UK alone, CR Games studio will create eight new roles to increase its membership closer to 50.

The strengthened in-house studio teams will focus on developing new products and customer experiences using ‘immersive technologies’, including development of the group’s debut R product, a ‘multi-activity sports club’, which is due for release later in the year.

“We love giving our customers great experiences and exciting entertainment as that is the bedrock of what we do,” said Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Chief Executive of Entain.

“Increasing our investment across all three of our in-house games studios will provide more of that for our customers across all our global brands.

“By widening our offer with new and exclusive games, such as free-to-play tournaments, we give existing and new customers more reasons to use our products. This not only helps to grow our business but brings fresh insight, so we can further improve the offer for our customers.”

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At the centre of the campaign is a mini-film, Time to Pit, featuring McLaren F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, in which he asserts the importance of respecting your personal limits and staying in control.

As part of the initiative McLaren’s MCL35M cars will carry the Party Responsibly messaging, rather than product branding at the next two races, the Styrian and Austrian Grand Prix – both to be held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.

The campaign will feature the launch of a new internet hub [partyresponsibly.net] which, in addition to the aforementioned film, will show how McLaren has promoted safety through the years by continually innovating new safety features on its cars. 

The hub will also help players check that they are in control of their betting and gaming, and provide clear and concise information on best ways and tools to maintain full control.

Grainne Hurst, director of corporate affairs at Entain, said of the launch: “We believe there are lots to learn from the importance McLaren and Daniel attach to managing risk and staying in control. 

“That’s why we think Party Responsibly is a great way to use the partnership to promote safer betting and gaming, to ensure our players respect their limits and enjoy a great entertainment experience with us.”

The collaboration between PartyCasino, partypoker and McLaren Racing, which was first detailed last month, will also feature McLaren themed casino content and access all areas games on the sites, competitions to win access to the McLaren Technology Centre, shared promotions throughout the companies’ social media channels, and jointly developed marketing content.

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The alliance will officially debut this coming weekend at the iconic Monaco Grand Prix, where the PartyCasino brand will appear on the halos of McLaren MCL35M cars, as well as the helmet of McLaren F1 driver, Daniel Ricciardo.

Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, said: “Fan entertainment is a major focus for our team and sport. Like McLaren Racing, Entain brands such as PartyCasino and partypoker place a high importance in providing moments of safe and responsible excitement for their customers.

“We look forward to starting our partnership with Entain from this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix and the activity we have planned together in creating moments of excitement for fans and customers.”

Through the partnership, Entain will be throwing open the doors to the world of Formula One, with the betting and gaming group to provide dedicated content and exclusive experiences via an activation platform called Access.

This is to feature McLaren themed casino content and access all areas games on the PartyCasino and partypoker sites, competitions to win access to the McLaren Technology Centre, shared promotions throughout the companies’ social media channels, and jointly developed marketing content.

Furthermore, Entain adds that it intends to use the partnership to explore strategies to promote safer betting and gaming, benefitting from the team’s unique perspective on maintaining control and managing risk.

Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Entain’s CEO, noted: “We are immensely proud to be partnering with McLaren Racing, a team who are synonymous with creating thrilling entertainment by constantly innovating and staying at the cutting-edge of technology.  

“This is the same approach we take in providing moments of excitement for our customers and we are truly excited about the opportunities we have to create new content for our PartyCasino and partypoker customers as well as bringing these great brands to new audiences.”

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Sport Buff will collaborate with the group to enhance the viewing experience on partypokerTV – the poker brand’s Twitch channel – across English, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian broadcasts.

The channel regularly live-streams the final tables of partypoker’s online series events, as well as challenges and other content in a bid to give poker fans a heightened viewing experience. 

Gaston Catzman, partypoker Twitch manager, said: “partypoker’s commitment to building a community for poker fans on Twitch by creating unique, interactive streams aligns well with Sport Buff’s mission to provide fans with an engaging, next-generation experience.”

Sport Buff’s video overlay delivers fully interactive and engaging gamification experiences, through which it aims to drive retention and education of the audience and deliver real-time engagement. Added elements to the broadcast will include predictions, polls, trivia, fun facts, notifications and even emoji sliders and raters.

All players will have to do to enjoy the new interactions is tune into a broadcast and log in to their Twitch account. The features will initially launch on desktop only, but will soon be expanded to mobile devices.

“We’re excited to partner with partypoker to power their poker broadcasts with our next-generation gamification platform,” stated Brendan Stock, VP of Sport Buff.

“Together, we are going to change the way that people watch and consume live poker competitions, by driving real-time interaction between the broadcast and the audience. We are going to innovate together to build fun, unique experiences for partypokerTV viewers.”

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Designed as an enhancement to its MyGame tool, the introduction aims to act as a personal trainer which helps players to play at an appropriate level and avoid making common errors. 

The one-to-one communication, says partypoker, creates a truly personalised experience, giving players the chance to have a heightened level of enjoyment and success at the tables.

MyGame Whiz offers key pieces of advice and targeted messages in real-time at the end of a hand after important moments; both winning and losing.

Players will receive bespoke messages that are targeted based on their player behaviour, and in turn can ask MyGame Whiz questions aimed at improving their game.

Coinciding with the introduction, partypoker cites research which it says shows that the biggest barriers to entry for new players are fear of not understanding the game, losing to pros and underperforming. 

MyGame Whiz seeks to combat these by using a real-time, instant, bespoke tool which works for each player in their own individual way.

Vadim Soloveychik, partypoker marketing director, said: “We have been exploring the idea of how to package great MyGame content into a bite-sized and friendly form. MyGame Whiz will help inexperienced players who don’t have too much time to study the game to improve their poker skills and gain confidence in the early stages of their poker journey.

“We received overwhelmingly positive feedback for MyGame Whiz during the testing phase and we are now ready to introduce it to the wider audience. This is a new and exciting feature for us and, as usual, we will continue to listen to player feedback on its performance and functionality and incorporate it into further iterations of the product.”

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