Harrah's Launches Online Games Site

Harrah's, one of the largest casino groups,has gone live with its first interactive service - LuckyMe - which is taking a drastically different approach from its casino competitors by avoiding traditional casino games.

Although Harrah's operates 26 casinos around the United States, it has decided that its own name carries little cachet in the UK resulting in its decision to launch a new brand, LuckyMe. Instead of UK casino games, Harrah's will be concentrating on skill-based games. The US operator has identified 35 to 48-year-old women as its core market and has launched with bingo games such as Top Roll, UK bingo and Popster as well as Wingo betting. The venture will introduce a new approach to online gaming – subscription-based play, that differs from the 'pay-as-you-play' internet gaming model other US-based casino operators have offered. Lucky Me will allow members to pay monthly subscription prices for access to popular games that offer cash prizes. Subscribers will pay between £10 and £56 a month for unlimited access to the site. There is a fixed pool of prize money which must be given away each month, with a top prize of £150,000 on the main Wingo game.

Advertising is planned on Yahoo!, MSN, Tiscali and the TradeDoubler affiliate network. There will also be advertising in women's magazines and offline marketing in shopping centres. The company is also eyeing up a deal with AOL which could go live in June.