Online gambling business and mobile update: 32Red, Playtech, Bwin

888 isn’t the only online gambling brand having a great 2011. Here’s the latest igaming business and industry updates from CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com.
32Red in the black
32Red has reported a stunning 42% year-on-year increase for the first half of 2011, EGR reports.
“Revenue for the half-year came in at £11m including revenue from acquisitions, up from £7.8m for the same period in 2010. £9.5m of that total came from 32Red’s casino product, a 41% year-on-year increase, with the number of active casino customers up 12% to 21,745.
Playtech goes Italian, mobile
Meanwhile, some major igaming operators are boosting their mobile offerings.
iGaming software powerhouse Playtech has acquired Sweden-based Mobenga AB, a mobile-phone sports-betting company, according to Bloomberg.
The sale, which will cost Isle of Man-based Playtech up to 15.8 million euros ($22.4 million), “will give Playtech the ability to combine sports-betting, casino and poker games in one mobile-phone application.”
Playtech also reported second-quarter revenue growth of 7 percent, attributing the growth primarily to online casino gaming. And the company is also set to significantly expand its Italian-based poker network, iPoker.it.
“Playtech has enjoyed a substantial presence in the Italian market since 2008, with its iPoker.it poker network offering fully-compliant tournament poker to the region’s leading operators,” the company announced in a news release announcing its acquisition of even more Italian licenses.
Ongame’s new poker app for Android mobile
Finally, the reigning king of publicly listed online gambling companies, Bwin.Party, has expanded its mobile presence by being the first company to license a new Android mobile cash poker app created by Ongame.
Six months ago, Ongame launched the first-ever cash poker app for the iPhone, and the new offering is the Android’s version of that software. Both offer single-table play, with little differences between the two.
But there’s one big difference: Android users don’t have to go through a “marketplace” to access the new app.
“This means, unlike with the iPhone product, it is not restricted to the three markets of Austria, France and the UK,” EGR reports.
Ongame hopes to sign up more online gaming brands for its new app, with a rep telling EGR that the company’s developers are “’constantly keeping an eye on the tablet market’ with the potential for multi-tabling on such devices in mind.”
Ongame is also confident that “the removal of restrictions on the number of markets will increase player numbers, as will the shutdown of Full Tilt,” which previously had offered the only other real-money poker Android application.