Mandalay Media Group, operator of four online bingo brands on the Dragonfish platform, has launched its own bingo software platform, with Xbingo.com the first of a series of gaming brands to be launched.

The newly formed company, Mandalay Gaming Holdings Ltd, will use the platform to target the international online bingo market while keeping its four online bingo brands – Costa Bingo, Sing Bingo, City Bingo and Fancy Bingo – as standalone networks on the Dragonfish bingo platform (888 software).

Mandalay said that an extensive beta testing phase was run with 5,000 players recruited via social networking site Facebook, in order to test out the new system as a free-to-play offering. In a manner that is less traditional, players were given £10 every day they logged in during the Beta testing.

This unprecedented beta test phase enabled the bingo community to trial the capabilities of the system without any real money being played. The technical development team behind the launch was able to react quickly to all the feedback logged and so for the first time a site has been built with real player input before launch, ironing out glitches and player problems before the live date.

The development team from Silo 18 Ltd, responsible for the programming of the software, and the look and feel of the site, have been working on the project for more than a year.

The team led by Mark Everett is confident that the project will be a success and suggested that the new software and Xbingo.com brand are a result of the dynamic fresh thinking and flat structure in the business.

"We knew if we wanted to attack the international market we needed a very strong cutting edge software product that could cope with the demands of an audience highly skilled in social media. Remember, when the online bingo industry first evolved social media was virtually unheard of, now we see it as key to our business.

"Ambition is high, we are a competitive company and we want to play at the top of our game, with Xbingo.com we believe we have an opportunity to make a noise in new and exciting markets" added Richard Skelhorn the co-founder of Mandalay Gaming Holdings Ltd.

The launch of Xbingo.com is the first of a series of gaming brands that Mandalay is planning, realising an ambition of its entrepreneurial co-founders, to create sites that can cross international language barriers.