Ladbrokes Coral operator GVC has announced that it will reorganise its customer care teams in order to prepare for new VIP requirements in Great Britain. The announcement comes after the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) adopted new rules for VIPs, created by a GVC-led Gambling Commission working group, including limiting the schemes to those aged 25 or older.

Last month, the Gambling Commission then launched a consultation on whether to make these changes part of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) for all licensees.

“GVC was the lead operator in the industry working group on what were formally referred to as VIP schemes,” a GVC spokesperson said.

“This work paved the way for the creation of the new code, which introduces significant enhancements to responsible gambling safeguarding measures for high-value customer (HVC) schemes and reduces the number of customers eligible to participate, including a complete restriction for those aged under 25.”

The spokesperson said in order to facilitate these changes, GVC has begun a restructuring of its customer care team.

He added that certain roles were placed at risk of redundancy under the restructuring, but said the operator expects the number of redundancies to be low.

“As a result of the restructure, a number of roles have been identified at risk, though it is hoped and expected that by offering alternate positions within the group, compulsory redundancies will be kept to a minimum.”

VIP schemes have become a controversial element of British operators’ businesses following a number of regulatory failings involving players designated as high-value customers.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Gambling Related Harm said in its report on industry performance and regulatory change last month that these “highly problematic” loyalty programmes be banned.

Online casino games developer and supplier Spinmatic has partnered with the Italian platform provider Pixelo. Spimatic’s whole suite of video slots will soon be available to all the clients that have integrated the Pixelo platform.

The first operator to benefit from going live with Spinmatic games will be Vincitu, on its main website www.overplus.it, and other sites. Vincitu has its own package of casino games and it is among the most successful ones on the Italian market.

“Spinmatic is one of the main casino game providers on the market and Pixelo is a young but very dynamic and growing company. We are sure that thanks to Spinmatic’s high-performance games the successes will be even greater and our position on the Italian market as a software platform will be increasingly consolidated and appreciated by our customers,” Cristina Ferrario, CCO of Pixelo, said.

“Working with Pixelo for this integration was very easy, and we are very happy that our video slots are going to be part of its suite of games. Italy is a very special market for us, and I am sure this agreement will be very successful,” Gianfranco Arrichiello, Sales Manager at Spinmatic, said.

Gaming Realms has signed a new three-year distribution deal with the Rank Group.

Rank Group casino and bingo brands such as Aspers Casino, Lucky VIP Casino and Kitty Bingo now offer players the entire Slingo Originals portfolio of Gaming Realms, including top performing titles Slingo Monopoly, Slingo Rainbow Riches and Deal or No Deal Slingo.

“We are delighted to announce the continued strengthening of our relationship with Rank through this agreement. We constantly strive to bring new and exciting content to an increased audience and believe that through Rank’s great portfolio of brands we can further enhance the Slingo brand here in the UK,” Michael Buckley, interim CEO and chairman of Gaming Realms, said.

Gaming Realms already provides its Slingo portfolio to Rank’s Mecca brand in the UK, with the new agreement extending their distribution to the Stride Gaming brands acquired by Rank last year.

“We’ve been huge fans of Slingo ever since it hit the UK market, so the opportunity to add ALL the Originals to our game portfolio this year is genuinely exciting, and well worth the wait! We look forward to building on its success and bringing this market-leading content to a wider audience than ever before,” Riaan Slabbert, chief product officer of Rank Digital, said.