Sky Betting axes social casino; Favourit gets new CEO; Puntaa’s honor system

UK online gambling operator Sky Betting & Gaming has shuttered its fledgling social casino division just eight months after the launch of its first product.

In January, Sky Betting & Gaming announced it had teamed with San Francisco developer OpenWager on a new social casino app, Sky Hollywood Slots. Sky Betting & Gaming’s head of social games Bruce Bale said the plan was to “engage with new customers,” while OpenWager CEO John Cahill said Sky Betting & Gaming would enjoy “a proven social-mobile stream of revenue.”

Fast forward eight months and Bale is gone after Sky Betting & Gaming decided to axe the entire social casino division. A Sky Betting & Gaming spokesman told iGaming Business that the plug was pulled after an internal review determined that social games did not fit with the company’s core offering.

The company’s other social products included the Sky Sports Soccer Quiz app, which offered trivia challenges for players in both solo and tournament form. It and the company’s other social products are expected to wind down over the next few weeks.