In Europe, it’s known as novelty betting. Bookmakers from Paddy Power to William Hill post odds and take bets on a variety of activities, from who looks good to win the Nobel Prizes this year to whether Prince Harry’s next girlfriend will be a blonde or a brunette and who might host the Oscars in 2014.
Paddy Power’s favorite to host the Oscar’s next year is Justin Timberlake at 2-to-1 . The odds are 8-to-11 that Harry’s next girlfriend will be a blonde.
But what produces increased publicity if only modest handle for British bookmakers is betting on U.S. politics. And oddsmakers and gaming industry analysts in Las Vegas said that if successful, a Nevada state senator’s efforts to legalize betting on politics will produce more notoriety than revenue.
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International Game Technology has agreed to a deal that will see the gaming technology company provide online casino and sportsbook operator Paddy Power Plc with a range of mobile games.
IGT officials said Thursday that the agreement represents a “significant extension to the companies’ existing partnership.”
The mobile games included in the deal are Da Vinci Diamonds, Cleopatra, Cats, Wolf Run, Kitty Glitter and Elvis A Little More Action.
The games will be available through paddypower.com as well as through Roller, a mobile site Paddy Power recently launched. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
IGT officials noted that the agreement will make Paddy Power the first customer of sportsbook and online gaming software supplier OpenBet Technologies to be given access to a range of mobile products via the Remote Gaming Server (RGS) Casino.
Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.
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Social gaming giant Zynga Inc. filed an application for a preliminary finding of suitability with Nevada gaming regulators [last] week as the San Francisco-based company looks to break into real money online gambling.
The company, which makes free-play social games such as Words with Friends, FarmVille and Mafia Wars, has been hinting at finding a way to jump into the potential U.S. regulated online gaming industry. The company operates the free-play Zynga Poker.
Zynga Chief Revenue Officer Barry Cottle said in a statement that his company is looking beyond Nevada. Zynga recently signed a partnership agreement with European online gaming giant Bwin.party to provide games that can be played for real money online by the company’s customers in the United Kingdom. The first games are expected to launch next year.
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Online sports books and betting exchanges have been among the leading beneficiaries from the rise in popularity of smartphones and tablet computers among consumers, a report released Monday found.
The Juniper Research report finds more than $13 billion in bets, including more than $3 billion in the United Kingdom, were placed via mobile devices worldwide in 2011, a figure expected to reach $45 billion by 2017.
The report, “Mobile Gaming: Casinos, Lotteries & Betting 2012-2017,” notes that most leading sports books last year experienced a dramatic increase in the volume of bets from European, primarily U.K. customers. Nevada is the only state in the United States with legalized mobile and tablet sports wagering.
“Companies such as Ladbrokes, William Hill and Paddy Power are all seeing 40 percent or more of online sports book customers placing bets via a mobile or tablet, with the result that those devices already account for around 20 percent of bets placed,” said Windsor Holden, the report’s author.
All three bookmakers are expanding into Nevada.
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