iGaming Business – Online gambling marketing firm Cashcade, the owner of the Foxy Bingo and Cheeky Bingo internet bingo brands, has awarded its media planning and buying contract to full media communications agency UM London. The Brand Republic website reports that the contract, which was awarded after a competitive pitch, is worth £8 million (€9.7 million/$13.3 million). The appointment will see Cashcade move from independent media agency Concord, but would not affect Foxy Bingo’s creative shop, The Biscuit Agency. UM London has begun working with the brands and has already negotiated the renewal of Foxy Bingo’s sponsorship deal with The…

Gaming Intelligence – Leading gaming machine suppliers Inspired Gaming and SG Gaming have called for the mandatory enforcement of responsible gambling measures across all categories of the UK gaming market including land-based and online products. It follows the launch of the first phase of the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) Code of responsible gambling measures on Category B2/B3 machines. Inspired Gaming chief executive Luke Alvarez said the measures need to be developed and implemented across all land-based and online products in the UK market. While Alvarez welcomed the introduction of the responsible gaming protections for machine gaming, he warned that…

Playtech founder Teddy Sagi is to sell £212 million (€257.6 million/$353 million) worth of shares in the online gaming software supplier, a sale that would amount to 10% of his stake in the firm. The Reuters news agency reported that Sagi’s Brickington Trading company would sell 29.3 million shares at 735 pence each through a secondary offer. The sale would leave Sagi and Brickington Trading with a 39% stake in the Playtech company. The company said that the placing, the book for which will close no later than the end of trading on Wednesday, would allow for increased liquidity in…

Poker News – California Assemblyman Isadore Hall told Tribal leaders and gaming interests at Thursday’s iGaming Legislative Symposium in Sacramento that he believes there is still a chance for Internet poker legislation to pass in the Golden State during 2014. He also indicated that the Assembly would be holding an informational hearing on the issue in the next few weeks. Hall, who was the keynote speaker to open the event, serves as chair of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, which includes gambling-related concerns. Two poker-only bills were introduced in the California legislature last week at the deadline to submit new…

iGaming Business – Social gaming company Zynga is to ‘soft launch’ three updated versions of its core mobile titles as part of an effort to boost its presence in the mobile gaming sector. According to the Reuters news agency, ‘FarmVille 2: Country Escape’ went live on Monday of this week while updated versions of ‘Zynga Poker’ and ‘Words With Friends’ will be rolled out by the end of June. FarmVille 2: Country Escape includes a number of new elements such as a virtual goods exchange while players will also be able to play offline. Zynga said the new versions of…

iGaming Business – Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has cited the growth of its online gambling business as the reason behind a jump in revenue, operating profit and EBITDA during the 12 months through to December 31, 2013. In its preliminary results for the year, the company posted net revenue of €745.2 million, an increase of 17% on the €662.7 million achieved in the previous year. Operating profit also grew slightly from €136 million in 2012 to €137.4 million in the last 12 months, whilst EBITDA also jumped 8% from €168.2 million to 176.9 million. The company highlighted the success of…