Genting Singapore has officially named its five Yokohama IR consortium partners.

The partners are Sega Sammy Holdings, Sohgo Security Services, Kajima Corporation, Takenaka Corporation and Obayashi Corporation. Sega Sammy is the only partner to bring previous IR experience via its 45% stake in South Korean IR Paradise City.

“Our vision is to create a world-class IR destination that is strategically positioned, sustainable and anchored on strong local collaborations,” said Genting Singapore, owner and operator of Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa.

“Having both solid financial strength and over 30 years of successful track record in developing tourism focused IRs, we are ideally positioned to deliver an iconic IR to transform and grow Yokohama City to become a major tourist destination. In turn, the City will be an in-bound tourism gateway to Japan and contribute towards Japan’s tourism growth strategy.”

Genting Singapore said its Board of Directors has already approved investment in the project without the need for shareholder approval on the basis that such investment would be less than 100% of its current market cap.

Leading Asian operator, Jade Entertainment, has announced a bold dual-sportsbook launch for the Indian and Philippines markets. Lucky Yeti, its breakthrough digital sportsbook and casino, is custom-built for the unfolding Indian sports betting market. While Jade Sportsbet, certified and regulated by PAGCOR, is primed to exploit fast-moving online and retail opportunities across the Philippines.

Both sportsbooks are powered by RPM Gaming, an emerging force in online and retail betting and gaming across emerging markets. Their unique combination of pricing models, coupled with a curated selection of odds from the industry’s best data feed suppliers, grants customers access to the most sophisticated and reactive in-play prices on the sports they love, with competitive markets available across a high-octane sporting summer – featuring the rescheduled Euro 2020 football, basketball’s NBA Playoffs, the Pakistan Super League and the postponed IPL cricket which recommences on 19^th September.

Lucky Yeti features a mobile-first tailored interface, localised for responding to native demands and player enthusiasms around the most popular sports in the territory. These culturally-contingent Indian-market offerings also extend to casino where popular lottery and virtual TV games sit alongside classic card games, whose immersive gameplay is tailored to give players an engaging experience in a card-playing, sports-mad territory.

Live casino, in particular, has captured players’ imaginations since Lucky Yeti’s launch, with best-in-class products from BetGames.TV, Ezugi and Evolution capturing engaging, real-time table games, such as Andar Bahar and Teen Patti. These games are filling the void for authentic user experiences at a time when land-based gaming across Asia as a whole is severely restricted due to the pandemic.

These multilingual sportsbooks are respectively localised for Hindi and Filipino languages, while Jade Sportsbet is breaking new ground with its flexible use of OTP (one-time password) account-recognition and QR codes, a key convergence trend expected to belatedly marry up the offline and online journey for Philippines players with an intuitive omni-channel solution that nimbly negotiates the demands of stringent regulation for improved player security.

Joe Pisano, CEO of Jade Entertainment: “We’re thrilled to be up and running with Lucky Yeti, our first sportsbook targeting the Indian-facing market. While Jade Sportsbet, which will be launching soon, will revolutionise the Philippines digital space. Thanks to our software and operational partners at RPM Gaming, we were able to construct and curate these customized websites from scratch. Based on encouraging performances in both acquisition and retention metrics, it seems our customers are loving these local touches, too.

“Jade’s strategic direction is to roll out more online sites in legal international jurisdictions, as we continue to provide land-based operations with a bridge to the online world. Although the trend towards digital from land-based domains was already manifest, the pandemic has had a catalytic effect, increasing the surge in digitized entertainment. As the coronavirus has closed casinos across Asia, or simply made people far more reluctant to venture out because of the risks, Jade’s intersectional expertise from land-based to online has come to the fore.

“That said, I’m thrilled to say that Jade Sportsbet has now returned to Okada Manila and is performing extremely well.”

Former Team India player and IPL commentator Abhinav Mukund to carry out Tamil Commentary.

While Matthew Hayden and Aakash Chopra carry out the English and Hindi versions respectively

World Cricket Championship (WCC), from the house of Nazara Technologies, has recently touched the 155 million download mark. The game was at 140 million in January 2021, and has managed to gross another 15 million downloads recently.  Given the growth, the company is now looking to reach out to its fans in the vernacular markets beyond Hindi and English. Former team India player and IPL commentator, Abhinav Mukund will reach out to the Tamil user-base, while Matthew Hayden and Aakash Chopra will manage the English and Hindi audience respectively.

As the Covid crisis staggers the world with lockdowns, and live sports has taken a hit owing to lockdown restrictions, WCC served as an alternative to authentic cricket experience from the safety of homes. Given the growing user-base, the game aims to further penetrate the regional markets and cater to a larger share of audience which now has better access to smartphones and data connectivity.

Resonating on the same lines, Next Wave Multimedia CEO and co-founder P.R. Rajendran says, “With the introduction of professional commentators into the game, the aim is to bring users as close as possible to the actual game of cricket. With the recent suspension of live sports, we would be glad for WCC to bring respite to the cricket fans confined in their homes.”

While Aakash Chopra and Matthew Hayden added to the realism of the game, Abhinav Mukund will further accelerate the feeling and connect further with the vernacular audience, bridging cultural boundaries.

Says Abhinav Mukund, “WCC as a game provides a very lifelike cricketing experience. Apart from a range of varied controls that the game brings already has, now, commentary in Tamil will only add to the game’s list of growing features, ushering a much more realistic experience, while giving the regional audience a chance to connect more.”

Abhinav Mukund is a classy opening batsman, having represented India, the former Tamil Nadu Skipper is now a famed cricket commentator. Players would be able to manually switch to the Tamil version of the commentary to experience the terrific commentary of Mukund.

WCC3 has featured in some prominent esports tournaments in the country including Redbull M.E.O., Skyesports and LXG WCC tournaments. Being one of the only ‘Made in India’ games to feature in esports tournaments in the country, WCC is looking to make it easier for players and tournament organisers to conduct tournaments on the game with its recently launched esports mode.

The World Cricket Championship series has been created by Chennai based Next Wave Multimedia Pvt. Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Nazara Technologies Ltd., a leading India based diversified gaming and sports media platform. Launched in November 2020, the third instalment is the latest in the series. The game has won the Indian Game Developers Conference’s “Studio Game of the Year” award and Google Play Store’s “Users Choice” Award 2020.