Mobenga Chief Says Unibet Deal 'Important' to M-Sector

Christian Rajter, the chief executive of Mobenga, believes Unibet's interest in mobile gambling sends an unambiguous message that major operators are confident in mobile's staying power.

In the footsteps of Bwin Interactive Entertainment, Unibet has elected to launch a mobile betting service with Mobenga, a privately-held mobile technology company in Sweden.

"It is very important for Mobenga and the mobile sector since it sends clear signals to the industry that mobile is taking off and is an area these tier 1 companies believe in and focus on," Mr. Rajter told Interactive Gaming News in an e-mail Wednesday.

Indeed, this calendar year has seen no shortage of action in a sector observers believe has yet to catch fire long sought.

In March, Mark Blandford, the founder of Sportingbet, invested £1.55 million in Mfuse, the mobile technology specialist, which lists a number of high-profile I-gaming companies among its clients.

Mr. Blandford's investment followed hot on the heels of news that Probability, the London-listed mobile gambling operator, had raised £1.7 million via an investment from Intercapital Private Group Ltd., a holding company in which Michael A. Spencer is a majority shareholder.

"Obviously, it indicates that more savvy people with good experience want to be a part of the success of this sector," said Mr. Rajter of the investing round -- a sentiment echoed by another of the sector's well-known executives, Marcel Puyk, who is chief of Cellectivity in London.

"I think that is absolutely the case and about time too!" Mr. Puyk told IGN in June. "I have been talking about the future of mobile for a long time now at conferences all over the world and I think we are finally seeing that it is being taken seriously."

Unibet's deal with Mobenga, financial details of which Mr. Rajter would not disclose, allows Unibet customers access to an in-running betting service, a growth area in mobile football betting but limited in its applicability to horse betting -- often the largest market for bookmakers.

In the 2007 fiscal year, in-running wagering accounted for 8.9 percent of Unibet's gross win revenue from sports betting, a percentage it will conceivably look to bump up via the Mobenga partnership.

"Other betting," a category listed opposite "live betting" in the company's 2007 annual report -- which, presumably, includes French horse betting -- accounted for 91.1 percent of the company's gross win.

Mr. Rajter believes that in-running mobile betting is a solution centered on convenience and attractive thereby. The majority of bettors, he said, own personal computers -- not laptops -- limiting access to bet while a sporting event is being televised.

"The mobile media is ideal for in-running betting," Mr. Rajter observed. "In-running is a very large portion of the T/O (turnover) that is processed in our applications."

No financial data are available for Mobenga.

Simon J. Holliday, a partner with Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, told IGN in an e-mail Wednesday that, across the industry, mobile is "still less than 5% of most people’s revenues and in most cases less than 3%."

Currently, Mobenga, with offices in Stockholm and Vienna, serves eight clients, including Expekt.com Co. Ltd., Nordicbet and Triobet.com.