Unibet to move to stand-alone bingo product

Unibet will end its bingo partnership with Playtech’s Virtue Fusion and launch a Relax Gaming-powered bingo product later this year, eGaming Review can reveal.

The Stockholm-listed operator has opted not to renew a deal with the software supplier, which runs out later this year, and the move apes Unibet’s poker strategy with the firm deciding to go it alone with its poker product in early 2014.

The new Unibet Bingo product will be joined by its Maria and Bingo.com brands on the new Relax Gaming bingo network and will initially be launched in the UK, Belgium and Estonia as well as on dot.com.

The bingo product will be available on mobile and desktop and feature updated graphics, a revamped loyalty program, new in-game features and integrated access to Unibet’s full casino offering.

“We had to make a decision whether to let bingo become a smaller percentage of the business or to try and do something new and exciting,” Daniel Eskola, head of gaming at Unibet, told eGR.

“The main aim is to make bingo more of a tool for us to acquire players and cross-sell them more effectively into casino,” he added.

The news comes after Unibet left the Microgaming Poker Network last year in favour of launching a standalone poker product which is also powered by Estonia-based Relax Gaming.

“The poker project went so well that it was easy to co-operate with Relax again which is very fast to market and as the biggest operator on the new network, we have more control of the roadmap,” Eskola said.

Earlier this month the operator announced an 82% year-on-year rise in full-year profits and 16% increase in revenues driven by growth in sportsbook and casino.

The firm did not release numbers for the bingo vertical although eGR understands that bingo revenues have been relatively flat in recent years and have shrunk as a percentage of Unibet’s overall business after an increased focus on casino.