Start-up’s major deal with Tote Ireland – pool betting goes mobile

18 Oct 2011

Pictured above the Tote at Cheltenham

A fast-moving Irish start-up that claims to have closed the loop on m-commerce has struck a key deal with Tote Ireland, owned by the Irish Government – to provide mobile betting on Irish and UK horse racing.

Wicklow-based software company Actus Mobile recently launched what it claims is the world’s most secure mobile transaction platform m:Cypher.

The platform has a myriad of potential uses, from priority booking of tickets via your mobile device that allows users to skip queues, to enabling doctors to securely access patient notes anywhere in the world.

Tote Ireland, owned by the Irish Government, offers pool betting on Irish and UK horse racing at 24 racecourses in Ireland.

Actus has created a new mobile betting application that allows live betting on Irish and UK Tote horse racing pools via their mobile devices.

The company claims its technology is ultra secure. The Actus-developed technology, specifically designed for mobile phones, is the  world’s most secure mobile transaction platform with 4-Factor Authentication (4-FA) security, a security level that would take a supercomputer 150 years to crack.

Punters can now place Tote bets on UK and Irish racing, including the Jackpot, Placepot, Exacta, Trifecta, Daily Double and Pick Six, simply by registering a Tote account.

Actus’ technology is believed to be so unique that it could not only protect consumer purchases but can even guide the shopper to that Tommy Hilfiger shirt they were looking for in-store. The company is about to launch a major deal with a high-profile Irish shopping centre in the coming weeks.

“This is just the first of a series of very varied contracts that are due to go ‘live’ within the next six weeks,” confirmed Actus managing director Pat Fox.

“Our technology has been deployed in a 63m passenger airport in the Middle East that will allow flyers to navigate the vast airport and make purchases, either airline tickets, duty free or gifts, all from their mobile phones.

“We expect to announce another similar deal with a high-profile UK airport shortly. We are also at contract signing stage with major shopping centres in Ireland, the UK and Portugal. International demand is such that we are seeking 18 mobile commerce specialists to work with us on current projects immediately. I am confident that many, many more contracts will follow.”

According to Tote Ireland, 2011 has been the year in which mobile gambling finally came of age with a recent report by H2 Gambling Capital valuing the burgeoning global mobile gambling market at US$2.8bn.

At the end of 2010, the mobile gambling market accounted for 9.8pc of interactive and 0.6pc of global gambling. This is forecast to grow to 12.9pc and 0.9pc respectively over the next two years. Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) is forecast to grow to €5.4bn by the end of 2015.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com