Inspired Entertainment, Inc. announced today it has signed a new long-term agreement with Entain plc to provide its Virtual Sports products across Entain’s online brands and retail venues. This represents a significant extension in scope and duration to the current arrangements with the group.  Entain is one of the world’s largest sports betting and gaming groups, operating in the online and retail sector in more than 20 countries.  Via its proprietary technology platform, Entain offers sports betting, casino, poker and bingo online using some of the industry’s most iconic brands such as Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM, bwin, Sportingbet, Eurobet, partypoker, partycasino, Gala and Foxy Bingo.

“Inspired and Entain have been collaborating closely for the past decade through a successful partnership in both the retail and online channels,” said Brooks Pierce, President and Chief Operating Officer of Inspired.  “This new agreement is testament to the strength of our offerings and we look forward to extending our long-standing relationship and opening it up to new territories for Inspired, including North America, with Entain’s recognized brands.”

“Inspired has been a trusted key supplier and their Virtuals have proven to be very popular with our customers in both our retail venues and via our interactive platforms,” said Sandeep Tiku, Chief Operating Officer of Entain.  “We have been impressed with their continued innovation in Virtuals and we are excited that even more of our customers will be able to enjoy Inspired’s best-in-class content for the first time.”

Okada Manila Casino Resort is located on the Entertainment City gaming strip in Metro Manila, Philippines. The 110 acre complex comprises of the casino which covers over 26,000 square metres of gaming space incorporating more than 3,000 electronic gaming machines and 500 table games. It also includes 933 hotel rooms, a luxury spa, shopping area and ‘The Fountain’, dubbed as the largest multicolor dancing fountain in the world.

Originally opened at the end of 2016, the casino recently upgraded the gaming floor with TCSJOHNHUXLEY’s latest Blaze LED Technology products. As the industry’s only table technology to project custom video animations through the layout, Blaze has proven an exciting addition to any gaming floor. Using energy efficient LED lights that are fitted below the surface of the gaming table, Blaze uses patented technology to deliver flexibility, reliability and graphic capabilities like never before.

The latest high definition Blaze Sicbo tables feature a countdown clock with large format numbers to clearly illustrate the end of the betting period. This along with improved visibility of winning sections allows pit bosses and security staff to easily monitor game procedures from a distance.

In addition, Automatic Dice recognition (ADR) has been installed on the Blaze Sicbo tables, prioritising game integrity. The ADR unit processes an image of the dice from a camera inside the cover, and returns the result to the Blaze Sic Bo table for display on the gaming surface. This adds further security features to the game and also prevents dealer / player collusion.

Completing the order, the casino installed eye-catching Ora Grande displays that feature sleek curved lines with integrated LED’s and a large scale 32” screen, providing excellent visibility from multiple angles across the casino floor. Complementing existing Blaze Roulette tables, newly installed SaturnTM Glo Roulette wheels incorporate LED technology adding eye-catching visuals and prompts that heighten the game experience. Reading the current game status, the Saturn™ Glo’s discreet sensors work in conjunction with the LED technology to colour indicate ‘Place Your Bets’, ‘Finish Betting’ or ‘No More Bets’.

Tim Gilbert, VP of Table Games at Okada resort comments, “I am very pleased with our partnership with TCSJOHNHUXLEY. It has always been our commitment to provide extraordinary gaming experiences to our guests and our partner’s product portfolio enables us to do just that.”

Wes Himes at the BGC praises the success of the measures ensuring gambling remains safe and responsible, throughout this lockdown and beyond.

• Bingo comparison site Online Bingo releases exclusive interview with Wes Himes of the BGC
• Himes speaks of the successes of the BGC regarding its safer gambling tools
• He asserts that casino venues were safe for reopening during the tier system put in place late last year
• The BCG will continue to work with the government to ensure that land-based venues can reopen when possible
• Himes expresses confidence in the regulations venues have in place to protect players from over gambling during the pandemic

In a two part series, Hannah Timoney of Online Bingo interviewed Wes Himes, Executive Director of Standards and Innovation of the BGC, to discuss the successes of the BGC and its continued mission to raise awareness for gambling harm.

In the first of the two interviews, https://onlinebingo.co.uk/news/interview-with-wes-himes-bgc, Himes discussed the success of the BGC since its foundation, and how the aims of the standards body have changed since the effects of coronavirus and lockdown shook the industry.

He talked about the BGC’s “extraordinarily positive feedback” over the year and praised the BGC’s implementation of new safer gambling tools, such as the whistle-to-whistle ban and the ad-tech code which increased the sensitivity level for access to age-related products on social media. He also hints that “there will be a number of other measures coming out around bonuses”, though did not share what that could entail.

The second interview focused on the national lockdowns. https://onlinebingo.co.uk/news/interview-with-wes-himes-part-2 Most notably, Himes spoke on the BGC’s call for land-based casinos to reopen during the tier system late last year, which he justified by insisting that casinos had “invested a tremendous amount of time and resources” into putting precautionary measures in place which were sufficient enough to mitigate infection risks.

He assures us these measures will continue if and when land-based venues are allowed to reopen, which he is eager to happen, saying “We are committed to continuing to explore with the government, as and when the time comes, what we can do to ensure that those premises can open.“

He went on to express confidence in the regulations venues have in place to protect players from over gambling, whether that behaviour is caused by the stresses of the pandemic or not. He says “these are the types of measures that we continue to raise standards on, these do help provide a very safe environment of play to the customers.”

Editor of Online Bingo, Max Wright, says “We’re thrilled to be able to speak to important members of the industry like Wes, and offer our readers some deeper context into issues like tackling problem gambling and improving legislation, which can sometimes be portrayed in an entirely negative light by the wider media.”

Online Bingo will continue to provide our audience of bingo and slots fans with informed insights from important gambling industry figureheads in order to shine a light on the decision making that affects gameplay and protects players from harm.