Playtech Strengthens Ties With Ladbrokes

The online gaming industry continues to feel the impact of William Hill's recent buyout of Playtech's share in their joint venture, with Playtech now extending its relationship with Hill's rival betting firm Ladbrokes.

Playtech and Ladbrokes

Under the Playtech-Ladbrokes deal, Playtech will provide marketing and advisory services, with the aim of increasing the lifetime values of Ladbrokes' online clientele, and will supply Ladbrokes with complete access to its full product suite and technology. Simultaneously, Ladbrokes is creating a new diginal marketing services operation.

Players will instantly see the effects of this deal, thanks to the launch of a new "Vegas" tab on Ladbrokes.com, offering a suite of Playtech casino and games products in addition to third party products from other suppliers. Soon, Ladbrokes will also migrate to Playtech's download casino and poker products.

Both sides believe these arrangements will help deliver significant acceleration in online revenues to 2017 and beyond, even with increasing competition from other gaming operators and software firms.

Industry shifts

Just last week, William Hill made the long-awaited decision to activate its call option on Playtech's 29% stake in their William Hill Online venture, paying £424 million ($636m.) in the process.

This ended a mutually beneficial but often problematic relationship. Hill had been seeking for some time end Playtech's veto over new acquisitions, with the software developer's now-confirmed partnership with main British gambling rival Ladbrokes proving to be a major source of discontent.