Sportech to tap into online poker market

Jun 24 2008

Football pools operator Sportech is to target millions of online poker and casino players thanks to a “milestone” deal signed with internet gaming giant 888 today.

Liverpool-based Sportech said its New Football Pools games, comprising the historic Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters brands, are to be marketed across 888’s entire gaming database later this year.

888 had 4.9 million registered customer accounts as at the end of March, compared to Sportech’s estimated 700,000 pools players.

The deal is the latest of Sportech’s ongoing attempts to reverse a shrinking market and attract more younger customers to its pools games, which were played by 10 million people back in their early 1990s heyday.

It will also see 888 market all of Sportech’s products, including casino, poker and bingo games, to both companies’ customers.

Included in the support package is the creation of a common gaming platform and wallet for Sportech, which will allow access to its different gaming products.

888 also replaces technology firm Cryptologic as the software provider for Sportech’s casino and poker games.

Sportech said the contract, which begins this September, was structured to incentivise 888 to drive traffic to Sportech’s sites.

Chief executive Ian Penrose said: “This is a strong strategic partnership for Sportech. This fits exactly with our strategy of reinvigorating the pools business and delivering an enhanced and modern product for today’s gaming customers.” 888 chief executive Gigi Levi called the deal a “milestone agreement”.

The rise of the National Lottery and other forms of gambling have seen Sportech’s number of pools players dwindle.

Its brand names - which date from the 1920s and 30s - are set to disappear in August as the pools business is rebranded as The New Football Pools. The renaming of the business has already taken place online and is on track for a full roll-out in time for the new football season.

In recent years, the group has launched a series of new products such as Premier 10 - where punters guess the results for 10 matches instead of 49 UK-wide fixtures under the traditional game - to help attract more customers.

Broker Investec said the support deal with 888 would save Sportech around £500,000 a year, and provide “significant” revenues opportunity.

Analyst Matthew Gerard said: “We had already included some cost savings from a new software supplier deal, but think that the future revenue benefit in the UK and international markets could prove very significant.” Shares were flat today.