Industry Mergers of Note

International software designer and provider, Playtech, has announced that it has signed an intellectual property sub-license deal with Guardian Games and Shuffle Master, in order to bring the highly popular Shuffle Master casino games to the gaming industry. Guardian Gaming is the operator of the Shuffle Master games, and holds exclusive rights to sub-license their proprietary games for use on the Internet in certain jurisdictions. The agreement will allow Playtech access to these rights, and will make available to software licensees the games Three Card Poker, Casino war, Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, Ridem fortune Pow Gow Poker, Let it Ride Poker, and Dragon Bonus (together the "Shuffle Master" series). Financial details of the agreement were not included.

Playtech has additionally been chosen by Guardian Games as the exclusive supplier of online casino software to utilize the Shuffle Master games. Playtech is the first company to ever have signed on a sub-license agreement with Guardian Games, and this movie will no doubt enhance the company's position in the online gambling market as a world leading software supplier for regulated individuals and markets.

Playtech is the developer of ground-breaking software platforms and since 1999 has brought the industry to newer and more exciting levels. Playtech gaming applications include online casino, poker, bingo, mobile gaming, live gaming, and fixed odds games. Its Chief Executive Officer, Mor Weizer, said: "We are delighted to have reached this agreement which places Playtech in the unique position of being the online gaming software provider for the Shuffle Master online casino, holding the sublicense rights to certain Shuffle Master games for our operator licensees. The agreement reflects the quality of Playtech's software platforms and the strength of our global licensing portfolio."

The shuffle Master gaming series boasts many features that Playtech were keen to get their hands on, such as automatic card shufflers, roulette chip sorters, intelligent table system modules designed to improve productivity and security levels, multi-player game platforms, live table tournaments and products for mobile platforms.

With Playtech's enhanced, rich graphics and animation, and Guardian Game's innovative online gaming ideas and creativity, the collaboration is expected to be highly successful. Together, it looks as though the bar in online gambling experiences is being raised once again.