PGE signs with Dragonfish

The South African gambling group Phumelela Gold Enterprises(PGE) has inked a deal with Dragonfish, the quaintly named B2B division of online gambling and software group 888.com, for the supply of an online sportsbook. The offering will be followed by the introduction of Internet casino, poker, bingo and quickplay games once a more developed regulatory regime is in place in South Africa.

Phumelela Gold is one of the world's largest pari-mutuel horseracing and tote betting organisations, and Dragonfish will also distribute globally through Dragonfish licensees and via 888.com the horseracing pools and live racing streaming from tens of tracks globally for which PGE owns exclusive distribution rights.

Dragonfish will provide PGE with a full e-payments service and back-end software, which allows swift integration into 888's shared wallet, cashier and customer support systems.

Experience gained in introducing the New Football Pools in the UK with Sportech plc has stood Dragonfish in good stead for the South African deal, which harnesses Dragonfish's e-payments expertise in emerging territories, built up through several years of successful work in Latin America, together with PGE's substantial gaming shop infrastructure.

PGE will provide significant distribution and marketing outlets for the partnership. PGE partners Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Ltd and Gold Circle (Pty) Ltd, conduct horseracing and tote betting in all of South Africa's nine provinces, running eleven racecourses, nine training centres, over 400 tote outlets, three telephone-betting centres and two online tote betting sites.

Gabi Campos, managing director of Dragonfish, commented: "Horseracing is the largest sector in worldwide sports betting, and we are delighted to work with a global leader in this area. Phumelela has a huge user-base in South Africa, and this deal will ensure that they have the best tools available with which to provide their customers with a cutting edge online gaming offering."

Rian du Plessis, Group CEO, Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Limited: "As a recognised world leader in harnessing the latest technology to globalise horseracing, we are very happy to sign with a partner that can provide us with market-leading technology to expand our offering worldwide. Working with Dragonfish going forward will help us to diversify our online offering and build on our current success."

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