BET365 LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE BINGO SERVICE

BET365 LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE BINGO SERVICE Virtue Fusion chosen to power betting companies latest venture The major Brit online gambling group Bet365 has teamed with bingo software provider Virtue Fusion to launch a range of new online bingo games.  Players can try Bingo at bet365.com with a GBP 10 free bonus with no deposit required, with games available 24/7, company spokesmen confirmed this week. Popular slots and casino games, such as Ladies Leisure, Cleopatra's Chest and Crystal Balls, are also available, creating good cross-marketing and entertainment opportunities.  Steve Ibberson, bet365's Managing Director – Gaming, says: "We are all very excited about the arrival of Bingo at bet365….we are confident bingo players at bet365 will enjoy the most entertaining and rewarding online bingo available today, in addition to being part of the one of the friendliest bingo communities."  The new service will also be offering regular promotions such as Penny Bingo, BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free), chat games, and bonus Jackpot games. Every bingo prize pool is guaranteed to ensure value and entertainment.  Bet365 is one of the UK's major online gambling groups with over 1.5 million customers in 140 different countries. The Group employs over 812 people and is the UK's 16th largest private company (see previous InfoPowa report). The company's casino, games, poker and bingo operations are licensed and regulated by the government of Gibraltar.  Bet365 almost doubled revenues to GBP 1.81 billion in the year to April – just short of the GBP 2.12 billion sales by mobile phone giant Caudwell Group in 2006. It represents an 84 percent rise in revenue thye comparative period in 2007. These revenues delivered profits of GBP 36 million to the family business, which is chaired by Peter Coates. Chief operating officer Denise Coates said the firm has enjoyed further success during the Euro 2008 football tournament: "We have been very fortunate to experience substantial growth every year since our launch in 2000, and last year was just another year where this was achieved. The great challenge for us is to make sure the growth continues." Coates revealed that an international marketing campaign was being planned to push the new Bingo service. "We think it has potential," she said. Bet365 was founded in the 'seventies as a chain of high-street betting shops, but focused on online sales in 2000 and sold its betting shops to Gala Coral in 2005. The latest survey report by research organisation Screen Digest predicts that consumer spending on Internet gambling in Britain is set to rise to GBP 1.6 billion by 2010 – a three-fold increase in five years. This will be the result of a growth in player numbers from 1.1 million in 2005 to 2.1 million by 2010.